God

Eight Champions Of Motherhood In The Bible

Eight mothers in the Bible played key roles in the coming of Jesus Christ. None of them was perfect, yet each showed strong faith in God. God, in turn, rewarded them for their confidence in him.

These mothers lived in an age when women were often treated as second class citizens, yet God appreciated their true worth, just as he does today. Motherhood is one of life’s highest callings. Learn how these eight mothers in the Bible put their hope in the God of the Impossible, and how he proved that such hope is always well-placed.

Eight mothers in the Bible played key roles in the coming of Jesus Christ. None of them was perfect, yet each showed strong faith in God. God, in turn, rewarded them for their confidence in him.

These mothers lived in an age when women were often treated as second class citizens, yet God appreciated their true worth, just as he does today. Motherhood is one of life’s highest callings. Learn how these eight mothers in the Bible put their hope in the God of the Impossible, and how he proved that such hope is always well-placed.

Eve – Mother of All the Living

Eve was the first woman and the first mother. Without a single role model or mentor, she paved the maternal way to become “Mother of All the Living.” She and her mate Adam lived in Paradise, but they spoiled it by listening to Satan instead of God. Eve suffered terrible grief when her son Cain murdered his brother Abel, yet despite these tragedies, Eve went on to fulfill her part in God’s plan of populating the Earth.

Learn more about Eve …

Sarah – Wife of Abraham

Sarah was one of the most important women in the Bible. She was the wife of Abraham, which made her the mother of the nation of Israel. Yet Sarah was barren. She conceived through a miracle in spite of her old age. Sarah was a good wife, a loyal helper and builder with Abraham. Her faith serves as a shining example for every person who has to wait on God to act.

Learn more about Sarah …

Rebekah – Wife of Isaac

Rebekah, like her mother-in-law Sarah, was barren. When her husbandIsaac prayed for her, God opened Rebekah’s womb and she conceived and gave birth to twin sons, Esau and Jacob. During an age when women were typically submissive, Rebekah was quite assertive. At times Rebekah took matters into her own hands. Sometimes that worked out, but it also resulted in disastrous consequences.

Learn more about Rebekah …

Jochebed – Mother of Moses

Jochebed, the mother of Moses, is one of the underappreciated mothers in the Bible, yet she also showed tremendous faith in God. To avoid the mass slaughter of Hebrew boys, she set her baby adrift in the Nile River, hoping someone would find him and raise him. God so worked that her baby was found by Pharaoh’s daughter. Jochebed even became her own son’s nurse. God used Moses mightily, to free the Hebrew people from their 400 year bondage of slavery and take them to the promised land. Although little is written about Jochebed in the Bible, her story speaks powerfully to mothers of today.

Learn more about Jochebed …

Hannah – Mother of Samuel the Prophet

Hannah’s story is one of the most touching in the entire Bible. Like several other mothers in the Bible, she knew what it meant to suffer long years of barrenness. In Hannah’s case she was cruelly taunted by her husband’s other wife. But Hannah never gave up on God. Finally her heartfelt prayers were answered. She gave birth to a son, Samuel, then did something entirely selfless to honor her promise to God. God favored Hannah with five more children, bringing great blessing to her life.

Learn more about Hannah …

Bathsheba – Wife of David

Bathsheba was the object of King David‘s lust. David even arranged to have her husband Uriah the Hittite killed to get him out of the way. God was so displeased with David’s actions that he struck dead the baby from that union. In spite of heartbreaking circumstances, Bathsheba remained loyal to David. Their next son, Solomon, was loved by God and grew up to become Israel’s greatest king. From David’s line would come Jesus Christ, the Savior of the World. And Bathsheba would have the distinguished honor of being one of only five women listed in Messiah’s ancestry.

Learn more about Bathsheba …

Elizabeth – Mother of John the Baptist

Barren in her old age, Elizabeth was another of the miracle mothers in the Bible. She conceived and gave birth to a son. She and her husband named him John, as an angel had instructed. Like Hannah before her, she dedicated her son to God, and like Hannah’s son, he also became a great prophet, John the Baptist. Elizabeth’s joy was complete when her relative Mary visited her, pregnant with the future Savior of the World.

Learn more about Elizabeth …

Mary – Mother of Jesus

Mary was the most honored mother in the Bible, the human mother of Jesus, who saved the world from its sins. Although she was only a young, humble peasant, Mary accepted God’s will for her life. She suffered enormous shame and pain, yet never doubted her Son for a moment. Mary stands as highly favored by God, a shining example of obedience and submission to the Father’s will.

Learn more about Mary …

What are you doing with God’s invitation?

3rd quarter of 16th century

3rd quarter of 16th century (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It is possible to learn much about God’s invitation and never respond to it personally. Even so, His invitation is clear and nonnegotiable. In the book of Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus makes a very generous offer that is hard to resist. However, many of us turn our backs and walk away.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

He is very specific in what He asks and equally clear in what He offers. The choice is up to you. He gives you all, and you give Him all. He requires nothing more or nothing less.

Isn’t it amazing that God leaves the choice to you? Let’ think about it for a minute….There are many things in life you cannot choose. You cannot, for example,  choose the weather. You cannot control the economy and you cannot choose whether you are fitted with big nose or small ears or a lot of hair. You cannot even choose how people respond to you.

However, when it comes to life after death, you are given a choice. You can choose where you want to spend eternity–heaven or hell. God leaves the big choice and the crucial decision to you. The ball is in your court and you are free to do whatever you want with it.

No doubt you have made some bad decisions in life. You may have chosen to skip college to hang with the boys. You may have chosen the wrong career or even an incompatible spouse. Now your past is haunting you, and you wish you could turn back the hand of time. You wish you had a chance to make up for the bad decisions you have made during the past.

God has provided a way out for you. He wants you to know that it doesn’t matter how tattered your past has been, with Him your future is spotless. One good decision for eternity offsets a million bad ones on earth. The choice is yours.

What are you doing with God’s invitation? You can either accept it, or reject it.

Do you listen to your father’s instruction?

A wise son heeds his father’s instruction, but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke. (Proverbs 13:1).

It seemed like his father was always picking on him about something. “Do this.” “Do that.” There was never a time when he left him alone. Sometimes the boy thought it would have been better if he did not have a father. He could not get away with anything, and if he was caught doing something he was not supposed to, his old man was on his back in a flash. It was not fair.

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6)

But when the boy grew up and had a family of his own, he realized that his father had kept after him to teach him how to live properly. He wished there were some way to thank his father; but he decided the best way was to be a good father to his own kids.

Often we scorn instruction and rebuke because it isn’t what we want to hear. But there comes a time when we are glad that we had instruction. The words come echoing back to us, and we begin at long last, to understand why they were offered. Too often we reject the words without actually paying attention to them. We need to listen to instruction no matter how much we do not want to hear it. It takes maturity to realize that others may know what is best for us.

Proverbs 4:20-27

My children, give attention to my words;
Incline your ear to my sayings.
21 Do not let them depart from your eyes;
Keep them in the midst of your heart;
22 For they are life to those who find them,
And health to all their flesh.
23 Keep your heart with all diligence,
For out of it spring the issues of life.
24 Put away from you a deceitful mouth,
And put perverse lips far from you.
25 Let your eyes look straight ahead,
And your eyelids look right before you.
26 Ponder the path of your feet,
And let all your ways be established.
27 Do not turn to the right or the left;
Remove your foot from evil.

Be Still And Know That Jesus Is God

Psalm 46 (NIV)

 God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.

  There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.
Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

  The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.

  Come and see what the LORD has done,
the desolations he has brought on the earth.
He makes wars cease
to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;

 he burns the shields with fire.

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”

 The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.

The strength of Love

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.  And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.  And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. . .

A young man sat trembling in the police station. He had been picked up for shoplifting and now he waited for his parents, who were on their way to take him home. Being arrested was frightening and embarrassing. but it wasn’t half as bad as having to face his mother and father.

As they burst through the door the young man saw that his mother had been crying. He bowed his head in shame and awaited the fury to come from his parents. Instead, he felt his mother’s arm wrap around his shoulders and his father’s big, warm hand on top of his head. He looked up through tears and saw that both of his parents were watching him with love and concern.

The boy asked, “Aren’t you angry with me? Why aren’t you yelling at me?”

His mother spoke. “Honey, when you hurt, we only want to help you. You have done wrong, but that doesn’t mean we stop loving you. What you did hurts us, but we’ll work it out together.” (Adapted)

God loves us every bit as much. No matter what happens, if we work to find God, we will find love we never thought possible.

Dear heavenly Father, I fall prey to so much temptation and sin. I am ashamed that I cannot do what you would like for me to do. Thank you for your forgiveness and love, especially in times when I don’t deserve it. Amen.

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