Does God Need Mothers?

So I was on my way to my Tuesday morning Bible study this week with a lot on my mind. Lately, I feel like I’ve been waking up in the morning to a new game show wondering, “What obstacles are going to be hurled my way today? And in what new ways am I going to fail?” Already before 9:30 A.M., my dog’s electric collar wasn’t working, I was behind in the laundry, we discovered our phone bill was overcharged by $80, and I had made my husband feel bad for adding another baseball practice to our loaded schedule. Here I was, feeling terribly inadequate as a wife and a mother, off to teach women much more together than myself about God’s Word. That’s when I passed another local church with this appalling message on their sign:

God could not be everywhere, therefore he made mothers.

Really? That’s your Mother’s Day message of encouragement? How is this good news? That God is inadequate, so he created inadequate mothers? If that’s the case, I’m doomed! This is why theology is so important. God is not inadequate. He can be everywhere—he is omnipresent! He is God! He’s also omnipotent and omniscient (thought I’d add those while I’m using cool theological terms to describe the attributes of God). He is all-powerful and all-knowing. This sign, although trying to be cute and praiseful toward mothers, makes our God very small. It in effect changes the message of the gospel. According to this church sign God is weak, so he needed mothers to help him out. God doesn’t need mothers—mothers need God. I should know. I am the one that is terribly weak. Not only am I full of sin, but I cannot be everywhere. In order to teach my Bible study, I left my house terribly out of order with my three kids in it to fend for themselves. It was Election Day in WV so the kids were home from school. I am now testing the waters in giving my middle-schooler some babysitting experience. Now you see my other reason for panic. So, like any other neurotic mother, I left my cell phone on in case of emergency. This backfired terribly. As I read the Scripture passage and began opening in prayer, my husband called to reassure me he had cleared up the problem with the phone bill. To make matters worse, my room full of mature women had to hear my terribly immature ringtone assigned to my husband’s work phone #--that would be Elf’s annoyingly hilarious song to his father: “I’m singing, I’m in a store, and I’m sing-ing!” Horrified, I apologized and silenced that call. As I returned to prayer, he called again!! That was a humbling moment. So why did God create mothers? Well I am sure there are many reasons, and I don’t know them all. But I believe motherhood is one of the most beautiful pictures of the gospel message. When God presented Adam his wife, it was clear that she was not made the same. Adam named woman in connection with himself. Immediately he noticed both their unity and diversity.  We have recorded in biblical history an account of their lovemaking, resulting in their first son.  The Bible simply says, “Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, ‘I have acquired a man from the Lord’” (Gen. 4:1). Many times the narrative sections of the Bible can sound like profound understatements that leave us asking so many more questions.  But this record of Adam and Eve’s encounter uses such an intimate word, knew.  We don’t get the details of the act, but we do get some of the juicy meaning.  He came to know her in a way that no one else would.  They shared a moment that revealed hidden parts of their bodies and their very persons, reminding them of their unity.  Eve was created from an inner part of Adam, his rib, and now Adam was inside of her.  How beautiful is that--the return of their bodies together?  Also lovely is the sharing in vulnerability and discovering the strength they have to arouse and please one another. Afterwards, there is not a question of whether it really happened or if it was wrong; there was the fruit of a child.  By receiving this gift from the Lord, even through pain (this was post-Fall), Eve was privileged to share in God’s creation of man.  We don’t have a testimony of her mentioning the pain of pregnancy and childbirth, but only the wonder of the gift. And having been blessed to experience three children created and born from my own body, I am fascinated with all of the analogies it lends to our spiritual lives.  Although my pain pales in comparison (even without drugs), it led me to think about the crucifixion, surrendering our bodies in creating new life.  The very same breasts that entice your husband nurture your newborn.  I think of the analogy of our spiritual birth, and being fed by God’s Word in the church.  Isn’t it amazing that we are privileged to participate in all this with our feminine bodies?  Believing and non-believing women alike get to share in the creation, nurturing and loving of children. I’m only scratching the tip of the iceberg here, but God’s creation of mothers is a fascinating display of his grace in love.  And thankfully, as one of his children in Christ, I am being transformed from my inadequacies into the image of his Son, my savior, Jesus Christ. What a blessing God has given us in the Son!