The High Estimate on a Mother’s Love

Image courtesy of Natalia Osiatynska from Flickr; licensed under Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic

In extolling His love towards His people, God uses the attention that a mother gives to her infant nursing child as an example of His own love for Israel. He expects that a mother, in the most natural of all attributes, will tenderly and spontaneously watch over her young. He asks a rhetorical question to Israel: can a woman forget her young? Is it possible for a mother to forget a young infant child who needs her? Notice three qualities that GOD highlights in this simple verse:

A MOTHER PROVIDES FOR HER CHILD:
Can a woman forget her sucking child? The clear answer is no. The mother provides the nourishment for the baby as he grows. She provides the necessary care for the development of the body. She provides emotional care and support from pain, from fears and from anxiety. The mother provides friendship and interaction for the child. The mother provides godly counsel to help her son or daughter find meaning in this world. The mother is a provider in her own right to her children.

A MOTHER LOVES HER CHILD:
The word compassion means to have pity, to love, to see the weaknesses of the individual and to do everything possible to help, encourage and support the child. There is no mother that, seeing her child in distress, will not help the child. The world’s thinking of love for the child today is warped and does not have the natural love of mother to child. Yet, the Lord teaches that a mother ought to love her child. The word love involves sacrifice; it involves a sense of duty and attachment to the child. Therefore it is called the son of her womb. The child belongs to her and she is willing – in duty to the child and influenced by love for the child – to comfort, assist and help the child grow.

A MOTHER WILL NEVER ABANDON HER CHILD:
The emotional attachment of the nine month gestation and pain of delivery leaves the image of the child forever in the memory of the mother. How can a mother ever forget her child?

Mothers, in this world of unnatural love, never abandon your child to the world, never leave your child to the teachings and influences of this world. We need not only to provide materially for our children, we must never leave our children in times of crisis and difficulties.

Lord, thank you for our mothers. We know that Thou in Thy wisdom has decided that each family has a mother as a reflection of your care for us. Help us to love our mothers as you have loved us.

Blessed Mothers’ Day!

Evangelist-Pastor Johnny Tan
Ambassador Baptist Church