(Mama & Daddy not long after they were married)
“I remember my Mother’s prayers and they have always followed me. They
have clung to me all my life.” ~Abraham Lincoln~
Although Mr. Lincoln said this, I can truly say the same
about my mother. I fully believe that many of the blessings I enjoy today are
the results of Mama’s prayers more than forty years ago. (She passed away in 1970) My heart’s desire is to
leave such a legacy to my children also. One of my favorite verses is 3 John v. 4….”I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth”.
I like it so much that I named my blog Walking in Truth. And that word “truth” in that verse doesn’t
mean so much a concept of things but a
Person…Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “I am
the way, the TRUTH, and the life” therefore the greatest joy a Mother can have
is to see her children walking in the truth of knowing Christ as Saviour!
Today for Mother’s Day I want to talk about some mothers in
the Bible and see which ones we should pattern our own lives after.
First let’s look at
REBEKAH who was the mother of Jacob and Essau.
Genesis 27:6-10 6 And Rebekah spake unto Jacob her son, saying,
Behold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau thy brother, saying,
7 Bring me venison,
and make me savoury meat, that I may eat, and bless thee before the Lord before my death.
8 Now therefore, my
son, obey my voice according to that which I command thee.
9 Go now to the flock,
and fetch me from thence two good kids of the goats; and I will make them
savoury meat for thy father, such as he loveth:
10 And thou shalt
bring it to thy father, that he may eat, and that he may bless thee before his
death.
Was Rebekah a good or bad influence? I would say BAD. She
loved Jacob more than Esau. Both were her sons. This was not a good thing! She
was partial to Jacob and wanted him to receive the largest blessing from his
father so she helped him to deceive his blind father Isaac into thinking
he was Esau. She was the instigator of so much division in her family that
Jacob was forced to leave home because Esau was so mad about the deception and
losing his blessing that he threatened to kill Jacob! Rebekah probably wished
she could go back and undo the wrong she had talked Jacob into doing! But it
was too late. It reminds me of something
my son David said many years ago when he was still just a teenager and it’s
always stuck in my mind. He said (about
a certain situation we were discussing) ,”Events we set in motion cannot always be
reversed simply because we feel remorse.” How very true that is! So we
must be careful what we do and say!
Second…let’s look at
JOCHEBED….the mother of Moses.
Exodus 2:6-10 6 And when she had opened it, she saw the child:
and, behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is
one of the Hebrews' children.
7 Then said his sister
to Pharaoh's daughter, Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women,
that she may nurse the child for thee?
8 And Pharaoh's
daughter said to her, Go. And the maid went and called the child's mother.
9 And Pharaoh's
daughter said unto her, Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will
give thee thy wages. And the women took the child, and nursed it.
10 And the child grew,
and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she
called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water.
You all know the story of baby Moses…how all the baby boys
were to be killed by the Egyptians and how Jochebed made a little floating
basket and put baby Moses in the river when he was just 3 months old. In these
verses we read how Pharaoh’s daughter saw the baby and loved him. How Miriam
told her she could get a wet nurse…his own Mama…and so Jochebed got to raise
Moses after all for the first few years at least. She MUST have been a GOOD
influence on Moses during that time , probably teaching him the laws of God and
the Scriptures she knew because we know that later in the Bible Moses chose to
claim his Hebrew heritage … “Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the
people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin
for a season;” (Hebrews 11:25)
Never underestimate the value of godly training during
childhood!
Third….the mother of
Rahab …whose name is not mentioned in the Bible.
Joshua 6:20-23 20 So the people shouted when the priests blew with the
trumpets: and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet,
and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so
that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they
took the city.
21 And they utterly
destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox,
and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword.
22 But Joshua had said
unto the two men that had spied out the country, Go into the harlot's house,
and bring out thence the woman, and all that she hath, as ye sware unto her.
23 And the young men
that were spies went in, and brought out Rahab, and her father, and her mother,
and her brethren, and all that she had; and they brought out all her kindred,
and left them without the camp of Israel.
Many times in Scripture Rahab has a suffix added onto her
name…Rahab THE HARLOT. We don’t know at
what point in her life she had become a harlot. We do know that during that
time period many children followed in the profession of their parents. Whether
her mother was also a harlot we do not know. She could have been a bad example
for Rahab. But on the other hand, it may have broken her heart to see her
daughter in this sad profession. All we actually DO know about Rahab’s mother
is that she was saved from certain death
by the children of Israel
when they destroyed Jerico. Why was she saved? Because of Rahab. Rahab hid the
Hebrew spies. She believed their God was mighty and she believed the spies when
they told her if she would hand a scarlet cord (red rope) out her window they
would not kill her nor any of her family that she could get to the safety of
her house. Verse 23 says that her mother was one of the ones saved. This
reminds me that there are Christian women who may have mothers that are lost.
That mother might someday be saved because of the testimony of their saved
daughter as they keep the scarlet thread of Christ’s salvation evident in their
lives! And what a great testimony Rahab ended up with! She married a Hebrew and
was the mother of Boaz who married Ruth.
Rahab is mentioned in Matthew 1 in the “family tree” of Jesus. Moral of this story? Through faith in God,
your life can be turned around and God CAN use you to be an instrument used to
see your whole family saved!
Fourth. HANNAH….the mother of Samuel
1 Samuel 2:18-21 18 But Samuel ministered before the Lord, being a child,
girded with a linen ephod.
19 Moreover his mother
made him a little coat, and brought it to him from year to year, when she came
up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.
20 And Eli blessed
Elkanah and his wife, and said, The Lord give thee seed of
this woman for the loan which is lent to the Lord. And they went
unto their own home.
21 And the Lord visited Hannah, so
that she conceived, and bare three sons and two daughters. And the child Samuel
grew before the Lord.
Hannah was a good example of a mother who was willing to do
whatever it took to do whatever seemed best for her child. For many years
Hannah could not have a child but finally God answered her prayers and gave her
a little boy she named Samuel. To show God just how grateful she was for this
blessing of a son, after he was weaned, she brought him to the temple to live
with the priest Eli….to serve God there. For many, many years I thought that
was the end to the story and it always made me a little sad. But then over 25
years ago my dear missionary friend Elaine Rogers spoke to our ladies group at
church and taught about Hannah. She made the remark that Hannah had the same
number of children that she had…4 boys and 2 girls. I was stunned for I had
heard the story of Hannah and Samuel all my life but at that point I had never
read the Bibles all the way through for myself. So many things I had been
missing. I have tried to read through the Scriptures over a period of 1 to 2
years at a time and have found that to be the single most important thing I
have ever done in my Christian life to become closer to the Lord. The more I read the Bible, the more I realize
how little I really know about the things of God. The closer I become to HIM,
the more I realize just how far away I really am from Him!
Fifth and
lastly…MARY…the mother of Jesus.
Luke 1:26-33 26 And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God
unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,
27 To a virgin espoused
to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name
was Mary.
28 And the angel came
in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with
thee: blessed art thou among women.
29 And when she saw
him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of
salutation this should be.
30 And the angel said
unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.
31 And, behold, thou
shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus.
32 He shall be great,
and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto
him the throne of his father David:
33 And he shall reign
over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto
me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.
Here we see she was submissive
to God. Something we all need to learn to be.
2. Luke
1:46-54 46 And
Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord,
47 And my spirit hath
rejoiced in God my Saviour.
48 For he hath
regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all
generations shall call me blessed.
49 For he that is
mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name.
50 And his mercy is on
them that fear him from generation to generation.
51 He hath shewed
strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their
hearts.
52 He hath put down
the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.
53 He hath filled the
hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away.
54 He hath helped his
servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy;
These all continued with one accord in prayer and
supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.
Mary was actively involved in
prayer and worship with other Christians. Another great example of how we as
Christian women should be! We need the support of a group of like-minded
Christian women to help keep us pointed in the right direction from day to day.
As I think about Mother’s Day, I
look back and know that I haven’t been all I should have or could have been to
our three children. But I can look back and know that I did point them as best
as I could to the ONE Who is all they could ever hope for and that is the Lord
Jesus Christ. If we do that as mothers, then we have not failed.
