## Like a Mother

## Isaiah 66:10-14

God wants us to know Him, and many times in Scripture He uses different pictures and examples to reveal Himself to us. This morning, we have honored "Mothers". I want us to consider how that God has chosen to describe Himself in the terms of a "mother". Note Mt. 23:37. It is the mother bird that gathers the chicks under her wings. The story is told of a man who was looking over the charred remains of his farm after a terrible fire. He noticed a lump of something in the barnyard that was still moving. He kicked it and from underneath came a little chick. That mother hen had faced the fire and gave her life to protect the chick. That is how our Lord described Himself. "How often would I have gathered thy children..." 2 This morning I want you to see the great gift that God gave when He gave us mothers, but more importantly I want you to see and receive the greatest gift, His Son, Jesus Christ!

I. There Is No Protector Like a Mother

A. Consider the animal kingdom.

1. Growing up on a farm I could see this first hand.

2. Gentle cows will turn on you if they perceive that you are going to harm their calves.

3. Gathering eggs took some special skills.

4. This is true throughout the realm of the animal kingdom.

B. Consider the Scriptures.

1. Moses's mother.

a. Moses' mother defied the king's command to kill all Hebrew sons born in Egypt.

b. She hid him away for three months, and then took him to the river as a hiding place.

c. There the Pharoah's daughter found him and took him as her own son.

d. Then God directed in such a way that He enabled his mother to become his nurse.

e. All because of a mother's desire to protect her child.

2. The Harlot Mother. cf. 1 Ki. 3:16-28

a. Even a woman of question- able character becomes a great protector of her own.

b. Solomon in his wisdom knew that the real mother would rather give her child up, than to see it killed.

c. note: v26

C. Consider God's Protection. cf. Ps. 91:1-4

1. There is no safer place to dwell than "under the shadow of the Almighty".

2. Note: v4 "He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wings shalt thou trust..."

3. We think of Him as our Good Shepherd, and as a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.

4. But this morning, think of Him in His tenderness with a heart that beats for a lost world, and as a true and loving mother who seeks to protect her own.

II. There is No Touch Like a Mother's.

A. In the family.

1. It is the mother who moves to kiss the hurt and make it go away.

2. She is the one who is up through the night comforting the fevered child.

3. My boys and I get along fine, but when they got hurt as little ones they looked to their mother for consolation.

B. The touch of God.

1. His touch healed the sick and the lame.

2. His touch brought sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf.

3. No wonder mothers brought their children for His touch and His blessing.

4. Jacob wrestled with God and the Word says that God touched his thigh and changed Jacob's walk from then on.

5. When God touches your life, it will affect your walk with Him!

III. There is No Forgiveness Like a Mother's Forgiveness.

A. It is nearly supernatural.

1. A wayward son needs only to say, "I am through, mother, I want to come home."

2. She is ready to forgive and believe that he is going to do right.

3. Though he do it a thousand times, she has the same faith and forgiveness.

B. God's forgiveness is supernatural.

1. Note: Jer. 31:34

2. When those who have been born again stand before Him face to face; it will not be as sinners, but as His children, with every sin stain washed away, every transgression for- given and blotted out forever.

3. No one can forgive like a mother, and yet God goes ten thousand times beyond mother.

4. He is wonderful in His forgive- ness!

C. Illustration.

1. The story is told of a godly mother in London whose daughter had ran off into sin.

2. She went to her preacher with a burdened heart not knowing what to do.

3. He asked her to go home and get as many photographs of her- self that she could find and bring them to him.

4. She returned with them and at the bottom of each one he wrote this simple message, "Come Home"

5. He placed them all around the city in the places of sin where he thought the girl might come.

6. One night the wayward girl entered a bar only to find a picture of her mother and the message "Come Home".

7. When she read the message, she knew her mother meant it and would forgive her.

8. She made her way back home and as she opened the door she found her mother's arms out- stretched.

9. The girl's mother cried out, "The door has never been locked, I have been looking for you, watching for you, and praying for you."

Conclusion: No wonder God chose to picture Himself to us today as a mother. Why not see the picture of God's love as that wayward girl saw her mother's picture? Why not hear His words to us calling for us to come home?

I thank God that I had a loving mother who prayed for me. I firmly believe that it is her prayers that God answered and brought me to the place I am today. But I am so thankful for a loving God who saved me, and who keeps me in His love each moment of every day.

Do you know Christ as your personal Savior this morning? Come to Him now. Are you a wayward child of God today? Come home!