This post is from Moms Take Ten episode 149, “Moms in the Bible–Their Testimony To Us”, which you can listen to wherever you listen to podcasts or at https://sites.libsyn.com/403493/moms-in-the-bible-their-testimony-to-us
I was speaking with someone a couple months ago, discussing our faith and our experiences with the church, when she said something that made me so sad. “I don’t see myself in the Bible.” She went on to explain a little of what she did see, of what was taught to her, and why she didn’t feel she could relate. As I listened to her, I thought through the women we have studied in our Moms in the Bible series and the many other women in Scripture whom we have not discussed, and I saw her.
This is, in fact, one of the reasons why I wanted us to do this series. I wanted to help us see the women of the Old and New Testaments more clearly. And to help us see ourselves as well. We are all so diverse, made uniquely by the Lord with different giftings and personalities and appearances. So too were the women of the Bible. And each one was loved by, cared for and used by God to accomplish his good purpose. Each in their own way.
That’s one of the things I want to leave you with as we wrap up this season of Moms in the Bible. We as women matter to God. Just because woman was created second, just because her creation came on the heels of God saying, “It is not good.” doesn’t mean that we were an after thought, a fix to a mistake he made. God is the sovereign Lord of the universe. He knows the beginning to the end and he knew it before he said the first, “let there be.” Him saying “it is not good” wasn’t an “uh oh” moment for him. Like, “oops, I didn’t do this right. Gotta fix it.” No. Woman had been part of the design all along. It was him giving us insight into his good design for us, that we were made to live in community, in relationship. As I put it last week, he just had more work to do.
You, Mama, matter to him. He loves who you are. He loves the way he made you. He loves that you are here now, just as he wanted you to be.
The call of the Lord that we see in these mamas’ lives is not to perfection but to relationship. How many of the moms that we studied struggled or made a mistake or outright sinned against God? Most of them in the stories as they are recorded in Scripture and all of them for sure in their lives. Because we know that all have sinned and fallen short (Rom. 3:23). Including us. Including them. Yet their mistakes and their sins didn’t exclude them from relationship with God or prevent him from working in their lives.
From the first sin in the Garden, we saw God draw near in the messy, the struggle, the sin. He called out to Eve as she hid behind the bushes. He met Hagar as she fled through the wilderness. He gently corrected Sarah as she listened from inside the tent. He answered Rebekah as she sought answers for her difficult pregnancy. He enabled Leah and Rachel to conceive. Jochebed he protected. Rahab he rescued. Naomi and Ruth he provided for. Hannah he comforted. Meals were miraculously provided. Children were healed and raised from the dead. Prayers were answered. Each and every woman could testify of God drawing near and working in and through them despite the circumstances or their own failings. It was their faithfulness to him that he celebrated, a relationship with them that he desired.
Mama, the same is true for you. He is not calling you to perfection but to relationship with him. He longs for you to walk in his grace and not the shame and self-condemnation or the pride and self-righteousness that we are prone to. He is near to you and he invites you to draw close to him.
Our purpose comes from that relationship. He made us intentionally, calls us to relationship, and has good things for us to do. We saw in their stories not just what the Lord did for each mama but what he did through her. Eve birthed the first children of the world and began the lineage of Christ. Jochebed protected her child from death and raised national and spiritual leaders. Rahab spared the lives of the spies and emboldened the Israelites to take on Jericho. The Shunammite Woman generously provided for the prophet Elisha, supporting his ministry. Elizabeth testified to Mary of the Lord’s power and goodness as Mary courageously said yes to what the Lord was asking her to do. The Canaanite Woman testified to us of perseverance and saw her daughter healed.
He used them where they were, where he had placed them, and with the giftings that he had given them to bless their families, their communities, their nation and ultimately bring glory to His kingdom.
Mama, he has you where you are, with the people he has entrusted to you, and the giftings given to you so that you could do those good works that he prepared beforehand for you. That we would be colaborers with him and experience the immense blessing of watching him work through us for his glory.
There aren’t very many moms mentioned from Acts through Revelation. Not specifically as moms at least. But there are two that I want us to look at now. The mention of them is incredibly short but their testimony is powerful. In Acts chapter 16 we are introduced to a disciple named Timothy who, verse one says, had a believing mother. Of his father it says that he was a greek. The implication is that it was his mother who modeled a life of faith to Timothy. In 2 Timothy we learn that his mother’s name was Eunice and that she was not the only believer in the family. Her mother Lois was also. Verse five of chapter one reads, “I recall your sincere faith that first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and now, I am convinced, is in you also.” Flipping a page in our Bibles to chapter 3 we read in verse 15 that Timothy had been taught the Scriptures since his infancy. Before they came to believe in Jesus, Lois and Eunice were devout in their faith in God and were intentional to train Timothy up in that faith as well. Then by someone’s testimony, or perhaps from their own encounter with Jesus, they came to believe that he was the Messiah, the one the prophets foretold of. And their faith in Jesus worked in Timothy’s heart as well.
A legacy of faith passed down from mother to daughter then mother to son. Believers when it was not popular to believe. Believing even when, perhaps, their spouses did not. And having the incredible blessing of watching as their son and grandson walked in the faith and became a leader in the church, one whom Paul himself trained and loved dearly as his own son.
What greater purpose is there for us than to be a light to those around us, particularly our children, of the Father’s love and grace? The times when I get a glimpse of how God is using me to reflect him, to draw people to him, those are times of wonder and gratitude.
What would the moms in the Bible think if they knew their stories were recorded in the most popular, most read book of all time? What would they say if we told them how much time had been spent studying their lives? If I was them, I’d be mortified. None of us want that kind of scrutiny. But then, what if we got to share with them the testimony of God shown through them? And the ways their stories have helped us, grown us, encouraged us, and given us hope. That because they were included we could see ourselves in Scripture. I think a tear might form in the corner of their eyes, softly trickling down as it is joined by another and another. They would lift their faces to Heaven in wonder that God did that through them. Gratitude would fill their hearts as their lips began to speak his praise.
And I can’t help but think Mama, if you knew the many moments, imperfect as they might have been, where you have helped, grown, encouraged and given hope to someone else, where you have testified of God in your words or in your actions. If the Lord were to recount to you the many moments that he has worked through you for his good purpose, I think that a tear would form in the corner of your eyes too, softly trickling down as it is joined by another and another. That you would lift your face to Heaven in wonder that God did that through you. And gratitude would fill your heart as your lips begin to speak his praise.
While I cannot recount those moments to you myself, tears are filling my own eyes as I think of you and your own story and the good work that you are doing. Don’t let your mistakes, your sins define you. Don’t let the enemy fool you. Don’t let your own insecurities shame you. The women we have studied–Eve, Hagar, Sarah, Rebekah, Leah and Rachel, Jochebed, Rahab, Samson’s Mother, Naomi, Ruth, Hannah, Bathsheba, The Widow Zarephath, The Shunammite Woman, The Canaanite Woman, Elizabeth, and Mary–all stand as witnesses before us of these truths:
You are dearly loved by our Lord Jesus Christ. He is delighted to be in relationship with you and he calls you even deeper, even closer to himself. He is at work in you and through you. You are doing good work.
Note: Image from John Heseltine / Pam Masco / FreeBibleimages.org.
Lyssa Stoyko 