He is tender and compassionate.

Happy Mother's Day!  My parents

Much of this week I have talked about the practical aspects of the love of God. He is committed to us. He is faithful even when we stray. He always pushes us to step into His best plan for us. He pursues us and desires fellowship with us. Since tomorrow is Mother's day, I want to look at the more tender and motherly aspects of the love of God. I know some people may be up in arms to hear that. They may think I have joined a Godess cult or started worshiping mother Earth. Neither of those is the case but there is a maternal aspect to the love God has for us. Let's look at some of the verses and see where such a crazy notion comes from/

Gen 1:26-28 ESV - Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

Gen 5:1-2 ESV - This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created.

So the very first thing we see about woman in creation is that she too is created in the image of God and that He calls both Adam and Eve man. In Eve, just like Adam and throughout all following generations, there are aspects of the character and nature of God that He wants to reveal of Himself, through woman. Just as each person is unique, each woman has a unique revelation of who God is programmed into her from birth. Jesus wants to reveal Himself and His character and part of that revelation will come through listening to and learning from the woman God has put in our paths. It is not a part of the heart of God that any man can reveal because it is unique to women. The role of the wife, mother, and daughter all play key roles in understanding God's design for creation and also His identity. We need to dig and uncover the elements of the feminine that God has hidden of Himself in the creation of women.

Many say that does not show a feminine side to God but there are other references to that nature also. You many not see the inferences that God is a woman but you definitely see the tenderness of His heart like a mother would carry for her child. As you read these verses, let them sink in. Let God reveal the gentleness, compassion and tenderness in His care for you that you may have often missed.

 Mat 23:37 ESV - "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!

Isa 49:14-16 NLT - Yet Jerusalem says, "The LORD has deserted us; the Lord has forgotten us." "Never! Can a mother forget her nursing child? Can she feel no love for the child she has borne? But even if that were possible, I would not forget you! See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands. Always in my mind is a picture of Jerusalem's walls in ruins.

Zep 3:17 ESV - The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.

As you celebrate Mother's day tomorrow in the U.S. and just celebrated it on the 10th in much of Latin America, celebrate the women in your life. God has placed them there to teach us all something of Himself. Ask Him to use them to bring revelation to you of this aspect of who He is.
To all of the mothers out there, and especially mine, Happy Mother's Day tomorrow!