This post is from Moms Take Ten episode 63, “Reflecting God’s Homemaking Heart”, which you can listen to wherever you listen to podcasts or at https://sites.libsyn.com/403493/reflecting-gods-homemaking-heart
I was listening to a recent episode from The Daily Grace podcast where guest Caroline Saunders presented a theology of home. Her first emphasis was that God himself is the very best homemaker. The more I thought about that, the more I was drawn in by the idea. In this episode, as we anticipate Mother’s Day on Sunday, I want to look more closely at how our lives of homemaking model God himself. This is not just for those of us who stay home during the day, this is for all of us moms who are investing in our homes and families.
The Bible begins in the book of Genesis with the creation of the world. In these first pages, the Lord intentionally and beautifully created a home for his children. He thought about the atmosphere, the lighting, the temperature, the decor, and even the pets. He established a structure that would help them by having a time to be awake and a time to rest. He gave them purpose through specific assigned tasks. He established rules that would protect them. From nothing, he made a home for his children to thrive and for him to enjoy them. It was a home where they could be safe, free, loved and cared for, without fear or shame or want.
Hundreds of years later, the Lord commissioned another home, referred to as the tabernacle. This is one of the parts of Scripture that those of us determined to read through the Bible in a year simply give up on. This is the passage that Caroline pointed to. There are so many details about the tabernacle including the layout, size, color scheme, materials used, patterns and designs, and furniture. He is the architect and interior designer combined. For what purpose? So that he would have a home with his people that they might worship him.
Fast forward to the book of John in the New Testament, and we find Jesus promising a new home, one that he himself is preparing for us. Descriptions of that home do not come until John himself received a vision from the Lord and recorded it in the book of Revelation. One could say that the entire Bible is actually about home, because home is where God is, and the Bible is about being with God, and God being with us. It begins in that beautiful home called the Garden of Eden, and concludes with the promise of a far greater, perfect home in the new heaven and new earth. Revelation 21:3 declares, “Behold, the dwelling place with God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.”
As I shared some of these thoughts with my husband, he reflected on how being with God himself is enough. That alone should satisfy us and meet every need, and yet, the Lord still chose to create special places for that to occur. It makes me think of the phrase “Home is where the heart is.” We could be sitting with a group of friends in a restaurant and feel a sense of home. We could be driving through the desert with our family and feel a sense of home. We could be at a church service and feel a sense of home.
There are numerous places throughout Scripture that talk about having God be our resting place. Psalm 91:1-2 says, “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” John 15:9 says, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.” We can be anywhere and feel a sense of home because God is with us and in us. That is truly an incredible thing.
And still, God created and is creating spaces for us to be with him. Adam and Eve could have been anywhere with him but he made the garden for them. A basic tent could have sufficed for people to come and worship God but he designed the tabernacle. When we finally get to the new heaven and new earth we will be ecstatic to simply be with him and away from the mess and hurt of sin, and yet we will be overwhelmed by the place that he created for us. He invested in those places because he cared to. Doing so brought him glory and joy.
On this podcast, we have spoken about our homes before. We talked about practicing hospitality, about how the work that we do in our homes is advancing God’s kingdom, and how we are to steward what we have been entrusted with. A few of the Moms in the Bible stories really focused on our homes, like Jochebed, Samson’s Mother and the Shunammite Woman. All of that is still true and good, but as I study this idea of home, I think that there is even more to it. The very act of homemaking, investing in our homes, is a reflection of the heart of God himself. We are imaging him to our family and those around us.
This Mother’s Day, be encouraged that God sees the efforts you are making and the work you are doing to care for your family and your home. He delights in watching you, his child, reflecting his own heart and characteristics. He rejoices that you are showing his heart and love to your own children. He celebrates that your home lifts high his name, and he fills it with his spirit and protects it with his grace. He is engaging in this same work right alongside you, and he looks forward to showing you the place that he is creating for you. Keep going Mama. You are doing a good work.
Lyssa Stoyko 