Thank You, Mom!
Watching over the ways of her household, she would not eat the bread of idleness. Her children have risen and called her blessed; her husband also has praised her: “Many daughters have done valiantly, but you have surpassed them all!” Charm is deceitful and beauty is fleeting. A woman who fears the LORD– she makes herself praiseworthy. Give her credit for what she has accomplished, and let her works praise her in the city gates. (Proverbs 31:27-31)
An appropriate exclamation, at any time of the year, is to express deep and humble gratitude to our LORD for His gift of mother’s. Moms, not only our birth-mothers but also those who “adopt” us to provide spiritual and emotional care are often a meaningful factor in people’s lives.
The Bible is replete with the testimony of great moms! However, “great” needs to be defined as there may be various standards one may embrace to characterize a mother as “good.”. The opening passage gets us moving in the correct direction for biblical moms who take steps in their lives to honor God with their lives and in their families. These concluding verses of Proverbs 31 is a solid summary of godly wives and mothers who have devoted them themselves first, to the LORD and then to their husbands and children. This vertical reality, in the midst of earthly surprise, confusion, hurt, and struggle that God has, shapes the mom-greatness the Bible elevates.
Thus, godly moms, in the end, honor the LORD with fear and reverence and receive the praise and compliments of husband, children, and community. Supremely, their grace and beauty are of a profound inward quality that is exhibited through their choices, responsibilities, and relationships. This is the greatness of biblical moms. Let’s take a quick “tour” of some of them:
Leah—biblically recorded as not Jacob’s favorite wife yet, she was enabled to conceive children. In the naming of her children Leah’s heart and hurt is revealed. A turning point seems to occur in her life when she names her fourth-born son with the name of Judah. She became pregnant again and had another son. She said, “This time I will praise the LORD.” That is why she named him Judah. (Gennesis 29:35) Leah travailed through a personal journey of inward struggle but, with God’s help to surrender she arrived at a point of deliverance and peace…and praise. Focus turned from earthly circumstances and the choices of others to resolute attention of the LORD and His goodness…that’s a great mom!
Jochebed—the husband of Amran, and the mother of Moses; The woman became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a healthy child, she hid him for three months. But when she was no longer able to hide him, she took a papyrus basket for him and sealed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and set it among the reeds along the edge of the Nile. (Exodus 2:2-3) What a moment! What a mom…to release her beautiful, infant son into a basket, placed in a river, seeking to preserve his life. Not only did Jochebed’s step preserve the life of her son but set in motion her opportunity to nurse him and bring forth God’s future deliverer. That’s a great mom!
Hannah—Elkanah’s wife and mother of Samuel. Though deeply loved and appreciated by her husband, the bullying of Peninnah who was able to have children while Hannah was not, took its toll. Hannah cried out to the LORD for His mercy and intervention. The depth of her heart-cry went beyond asking for a child but to have a son who would then be given back to the LORD for His purpose. She made a vow saying, “O LORD of Heaven’s Armies, if you would truly look on the suffering of your servant, and would keep me in mind and not neglect your servant, and give your servant a male child, then I will dedicate him to the LORD all the days of his life. His hair will never be cut.” (1 Samuel 1:11) Hannah’s heart-cry request matched what was on the heart of God, a faithful priest! (1 Samuel 2:35) Hannah’s fulfillment of her desperate vow was not an empty, emotional moment but a genuine promise. This a great mom!
Ruth—the daughter-in-law of Naomi who becomes the wife of Boaz and the mother of Obed. Ruth’s stalwart position to not leave Naomi but to go with her back to Israel was a huge step of both deep love and profound sacrifice. But Ruth replied (to Naomi), “Stop urging me to abandon you! For wherever you go, I will go. Wherever you live, I will live. Your people will become my people, and your God will become my God. (Ruth 1:16) Like Jochebed, who was willing to risk and release the baby Moses in a basket on the Nile River, Ruth was willing to let go of her homeland and risk to go into an unknown future as she surrendered to remain with her mother-in-law. As Ruth humbly adjusted and followed cultural instruction, the way was paved for her to marry Boaz and have a child to continue the line that would eventually lead to David. A great story of a godly mom!
Bathsheba—the wife of King David and mother of Solomon. Her life, having taken an abrupt 90-degree turn as part of King David’s sinful and evil choices—adultery and killing of her dutiful husband, Uriah, and the death of the conceived child—eventually, bore David a son who would follow him as Israel’s future king. Her pilgrimage of personal sorrow is only surpassed by her unwavering faithfulness to David, her son, Solomon, and the future of Israel. So Bathsheba visited the king in his private quarters. (The king was very old, and Abishag the Shunammite was serving the king.) Bathsheba bowed down on the floor before the king. The king said, “What do you want?” King David responded, “Summon Bathsheba!” She came and stood before the king. Bathsheba bowed down to the king with her face to the floor and said, “May my master, King David, live forever!” Haggith’s son Adonijah visited Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother. She asked, “Do you come in peace?” He answered, “Yes." Bathsheba replied, “That’s fine, I’ll speak to the king on your behalf” her, and then sat on his throne. He ordered a throne to be brought for the king’s mother, and she sat at his right hand. These were the sons born to him in Jerusalem: Shimea, Shobab, Nathan, and Solomon – the mother of these four was Bathsheba the daughter of Ammiel. (1 Kings 1:15-16, 28, 31; 2:13, 18-19; 1 Chronicles 3:5) One’s mind can only imagine the myriad of thoughts Bathsheba must have had about her life and its sudden twist and what many would label, as an undeserved interruption. Yet, the hand of God’s grace and the testimony of her life…testifies to a godly mom!
Mary—well, it is hard not to include Mary in a list of godly moms as she was chosen to be the mother of the Christ-child, the Son of God, Jesus and the wife of Joseph. Mary’s journey to be interruptible and take the pain of undeserved ridicule became a part of God’s plan not only for her but for Joseph. God’s sovereignty positioned her life to fulfill much Old Testament Scripture as well as to live out the experience of raising the Messiah as well as watching Him die. So Mary said, “Yes, I am a servant of the Lord; let this happen to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her… Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, “Listen carefully: This child is destined to be the cause of the falling and rising of many in Israel and to be a sign that will be rejected. Indeed, as a result of him the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed – and a sword will pierce your own soul as well!”…When his parents saw him, they were overwhelmed. His mother said to him, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been looking for you anxiously.” But he replied, “Why were you looking for me? Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?” Yet his parents did not understand the remark he made to them. Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. But his mother kept all these things in her heart… So when Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing there, he said to his mother, “Woman, look, here is your son!” He then said to his disciple, “Look, here is your mother!” From that very time the disciple took her into his own home. (Luke 1:38; 2:34-35, 48-51; John 19:26-27) Mary’s fear of the LORD, surrender to Him, treasuring all the unbelievable moments and overwhelming words being declared about Him, and to personally love her son, as the Son of God, is a testimony of a great mom!
Lois and Eunice—the grandmother and mother, respectively, of Timothy receive the praise of Paul as the beginning points of Timothy’s “sincere faith.” I recall your sincere faith that was alive first in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice, and I am sure is in you. (2 Timothy 1:5) This maternal, generational testimony captured Paul’s heart. It also served as a valuable reminder to Timothy as a primary source of where his personal life of faith, and now calling, exists. Passing on Jesus to one’s children and grandchildren is not only an awesome privilege but an immense responsibility. Great, godly moms give the gift of faith in Christ!
Though the stories of these godly moms have great variance, the testimony of coming to abandonment to adjust to a “new order” that either happened through direct or indirect God-arranged circumstances is true in each of the narratives. A reverence to God was exposed in each heart and enable the purpose of God to be accomplished. Let’s give thanks for how the legacy lives on today in the lives of 21st century godly moms!
