From Mary To Mom, Lessons in Motherhood

Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes and said to the entire Israelite assembly, "The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. If the LORD is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will devour them. Their protection is gone, but the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them." Numbers 14: 6-9 (NIV)

 

The other ten spies came back with this report:

 

But the men who had gone up with him said, "We can't attack those people; they are stronger than we are." And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, "The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them." Numbers 13: 31-33 (NIV)

 

All twelve saw the exact same thing. But the perspective they employed was vastly different. For the ten spies with the negative report, they magnified their problems in their soul. Their own words betray them when they say that they "seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes." When you magnify the giants in your life you will become as insignificant as a grasshopper both to them and to yourself. But when you magnify God instead of the giants, like Joshua and Caleb did, then your giants hold no power over you. David slew Goliath not because of the stone. It wasn't because of the slingshot. It was because of his perspective. When David looked at the nine foot giant that made every fighting man in Israel cower in fear, all he saw was God. In his soul, where his emotions rule and his affections sit all he saw was God. The same was true for Joshua and Caleb. The same was true for Mary. She was a woman who embodied love the love of God. No matter what she faced she saw God. Pregnant at 14 and facing ridicule God was bigger. Fleeing to Egypt to make sure her newborn son wasn't killed by Herod God was bigger. Watching that same son suffer and die on the cross for all mankind God was bigger.

 

The reality is that we all will face our mountains and giants in our lives. We must be like Mary to be the conqueror God has called us to be. We must be faithful above everything else. We must be strong beyond measure. We must embody the love of God. The key verse today was not chosen for its relevance to mothers because it has none directly. It is the opening line from the opening prayer of the Apostle Paul to the Church at Philippi. What I found particularly touching was that Paul expresses that every time he merely thinks about that church he thanks God for them. As I was seeking a key verse for this Mother's Day devotional I stopped and thought shouldn't we do no less for our mothers? I thank God for Mary and the life she lived and I thank God for my mother and the life she gave me, the life she nurtured in me, and for helping me to become the person that I am. God saved me no doubt, but mom brought me into the world (and she was fond of saying she could take me out of it too...). Let me leave you with the word of God for this and every Mother's Day:

 

...May she who gave you birth be happy. Proverbs 23: 25b (NLT)

 

 

Reverend Anthony Wade May 5, 2011