We talked yesterday about Proverbs 3:5, 6: “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”
Do you notice that it says that we are to acknowledge the Lord in “ALL our ways”? That means in ALL the practical ways of our lives. That means in all our mothering ways. We can often feel very close to God when we are away on our own with our Bible and no distractions. In fact, we can feel very spiritual. But what about when we get back in the fray? In the midst of babies, toddlers, tantrums, teens, frustrations, and overwhelmingness! How can we know God then?
Dear mother, God wants you to KNOW HIM in all your daily mothering. And not only know about him but know Him intimately. That word in the Hebrew is “yada” which means “to know intimately.”
Let’s get to the reality of life. God is the One who created our bodies. He wondrously, intricately, and amazingly created them to carry and nurture life in our wombs, to give birth, to pour out life and sustenance from our breasts, and to mother and teach our children.
We are created, called, chosen, ordained, designated, and destined—physically, emotionally, and spiritually for this purpose. Therefore, as we realize this divine truth (and can I please interrupt my sentence here--it is a divine truth even if our humanistic society does not embrace it) we will come to understand His ways.
Because it is God’s plan, the enemy wants to rob us from it. When he robs us of this truth, he robs us of our full understanding of God. As we embrace this divine truth, we come to find out more and more who God is like. And the more we embrace His ways in our roles as wives and mothers, the more He reveals to us and leads us in His paths.
Seek with all your heart to KNOW GOD in the way He created you. Don’ be dumbed down by the foolishness of our feminist society. Discover all the amazing hormones He gives to you when you are pregnant. Experience the beautiful blissful and calming hormones He gives to you while you nurse your baby. God is wrapped up in all your mothering. You miss knowing much of who God really is when you discard your mothering ways for the ways of the world.
We understand how He wants us to mother even as we read these negative Scriptures about animals and birds:
Job 39:13-16: “The ostrich . . . which leaveth her eggs in the earth, and warmeth them in dust, and forgetteth that the foot may crush them, or that the wild beast may break them. She is hardened against her young ones, as though they were not hers: her labor is vain without fear; because God hath DEPRIVED HER OF WISDOM, neither hath he imparted to her understanding.”
Lamentations 4:3: “Even the sea monsters draw out the breast, they give (nursing) to their young ones: the daughter of my people is become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness.”
Jeremiah 8:7: “Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times, and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming: but my people know not the judgment of the Lord.”
Let’s be those who know God and who He created us to be and how He created us to function. We don’t only learn of God’s ways listening to a message in church. We learn God’s ways in the nitty gritty of life in our homes.
Be blessed,
Nancy Campbell
Painting: Spanish artist, Vicente Romero Redondo