A Mother’s Day Devotional
Matthew 23:37 NKJV — “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!”
A brooding hen is protective of her chicks, and sometimes even, as in the video below, her adopted ducklings. She gathers her babies under her wings to protect them from predators or even just a heavy rain, and she will peck and squawk at an intruder who comes too close to her young.
In modern times, there are a few who want to identify God as a female. The God of the Bible always identifies Himself as a male. In spite of this, in this metaphor spoken by Jesus to a Jewish audience, He compares Himself not just to a female but to a mother, showing that God has some motherly and protective aspects of His character. This aspect of God’s personality and character should reassure us, and just as the verse suggests, we should be willing to cooperate with His protective care for us.
Lord, thank You for teaching us about Yourself, and thank You for caring for us in such a nurturing way. Help and be with the mothers this Mother’s Day that they might also show Your character to their children.
Note: This is my first devotional on this site, but I hope to create more posts along this line, at least from time to time, on this site.