I would like to talk to you about the value of a Godly mother. When many people think about this, they think about Proverbs 31, which describes what many would consider to be the perfect woman. That certainly has its place. However, no one is perfect and focusing too much on Scripture like that or taking the wrong things from it can be discouraging. No part of living the Christian life is about being perfect, including motherhood. There is much to be said for a mother who is simply a godly woman who fears and respects God.
Let’s think about a few notable mothers in the Bible.
What do we know about Eve, as a mother. Very little. We know that neither she nor Adam did all that great in their walk with God, prior to them becoming parents, given that they are responsible for the fall from grace and sin entering the human race, but what about after that? What of their children? Some say that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree (no pun intended) but I do not like that saying. I have known of many situations where very Godly parents had children who did not turn out to be very Godly and vise versa. I have also known of situations where the same two parents had multiple children which turned out quite differently. This is the case with Adam and Eve and their children, is it not?
Consider the story of Cain and Abel, Adam and Eve’s first two children, found in Genesis 4. They both gave offerings to God. God was satisfied with Abel’s offering but not with Cain’s, for reasons that we are not told. Cain, in a fit of anger, killed Abel. This was after Adam and Eve had been driven out of the garden, following the fall from grace, so they no longer walked and talked with God every day. Presumably, neither did Cain and Abel, and yet, they knew to give God an offering. How did they know that they should do that? Did Eve teach Cain and Abel about the things of God? Is this why they gave offerings? I don’t know and no one does because the Bible does not say. However, I think this is a question worth pondering. It was my own mother who first got me interested in the things of God.
When Moses was born, the king of Egypt, the pharaoh , had given a command that all male children were to be killed. Moses’ mother, Jochebed, hid him and then put him in an ark, rather than killing him, even though she could have probably been killed herself for disobeying the Pharaoh, because she feared and respected God. The daughter of Pharaoh then found Moses and took him to raise as her own and payed Jochebed, not knowing that she was his mother, to nurse him. God took care of both Moses and his mother. The details can be found in Exodus 2.
Rahab was a prostitute who lived in Jericho, before the people of what would become Israel conquered it. Rahab feared God, because of the things she had heard about Him (Joshua 2), and she dealt well with His people (hid the spies that Joshua had sent from the king of Jericho), so that her own people would be spared. God took care of her and both she and her family, them alone among her people, were spared (Joshua 6:17). She was the mother of Boaz (Matthew 1), who married Ruth.
Ruth was kind to her first husband and, after he died, to her mother-in-law, Naomi (Ruth 1:8). She said that Naomi’s God would be her God (Ruth 1:16). Indications are that Ruth was a Godly woman, probably having learned about the things of God from her husband and from Naomi. God took care of Ruth. She was the grandmother of David (Matthew 1).
Neither Rahab nor Ruth were from Israel. They were not, by birth, God’s people. Rahab was from Jericho and Ruth was from Moab. However, they learned about the things of God from others in their life and they came to understand and respect Him. God adopted both of them into His family, where they played prominent roles. Both are specifically mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1.
Mary, the mother of Jesus, was faithful to God, despite much she did not know or understand. How much she did or did not know is a bit of a controversial topic but, from Scripture, it is clear that there was much about the nature and purpose of Jesus that she did not know or fully understand. However, God chose her to carry His Son and she remained faithful to Him. For an in depth discussion of this topic, please see my article entitled “What Did Mary Know”.
Are you the perfect mother? Of course not because there is no such thing. Only One among us was ever perfect, Jesus, and because of His perfection and His sacrifice on our behalf, we don’t have to be perfect. If you are in circumstances that worry you, that scare you, that you do not understand, seek God and trust Him. He will take care of you. He can work through you to make a positive difference in the lives of your children and others. He will be the best friend you could ever hope to have. For more about how to form a relationship with Him, see the “The Most Important Thing” section of this website.
