TEXT: Isaiah 49:14-16
TITLE: More Than Mom
TOPIC: Mother’s Day, The Love of God
TIME: 11 A.M. on May 11, 2003
14 But Zion said, "The Lord has forsaken me, and the Lord has forgotten me."
15 "Can a woman forget her nursing child, and have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you.
16 Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are continually before Me."
Despondency is often the result of multiple adversities. When trial falls upon weary trial and when the soul is buffeted by storm after storm, sadness and despair can set it, take root and thrive.
Any one of Job’s afflictions would be enough to cast most people into deep depression, but in less than 24 hours Job experienced four major tragedies.
1. Sabean rustlers stole his 500 yoke of oxen, his 500 female donkeys and killed his servants who were keeping them.
2. Fire fell on and consumed his 7,000 sheep and the shepherds that were watching them.
3. The Chaldeans stole his 3,000 camels and killed the servants that were caring for them.
4. His seven sons and three daughters were killed by a tornado.
In addition to this, Job’s health went downhill and his friends attributed all his misfortune to some sin in his life. (See Job1:13-19.)
Scripture tells us that Job did not sin or blame God (1:22), but it does tell us that he cursed the day of his birth.
Despondency can be the result of severe adversity. One of the final seven sayings of Christ on the cross was, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me." In his second epistle to the Church at Corinth, Paul declared that the severity of his adversity caused him to despair "even of life" (2Cor. 1:8). Extreme adversity can cause us to feel cut off from God and others. It can produce feelings of dejection and isolation, and rob us of courage and hope.
Despondency can be the result of long term adversity. Even the best of us tend to despair when a momentary difficulty turns into long term ordeal. While sailing to Rome, Paul and his shipmates come under the howling winds of a severe northeaster. According to Luke’s account, when "neither sun nor stars appeared for many days…all hope of surviving was gradually abandoned" (Acts 27:20).
Even the most committed optimist can be worn down by a long term ordeal.
The days of Israel’s captivity in Babylon had turned into months and the months into years. They were in a place they did not want be in. They were like a groom whose loving bride died during the honeymoon. As they looked into the future they saw nothing but sunless days and starless nights. There was no deliverer on the horizon. Hope of returning to their homeland was all but gone. The fountain of comfort was sealed by their hopelessness and they were caught in the grip of despondency. These people declared, "The Lord has forsaken me…the Lord has forgotten me."
How often we limit Omnipotence and set boundaries on the Eternal by defining Him through our circumstances or because we view Him from afar.
ILLUS: Seven year old Bobby was telling his dad about his visit to New York City.
"Well, Bobby," his dad asked, "Did you get to see the Empire State Building?"
"Yes sir," replied Bobby."
"How tall is it" asked the father.
"From where I was standing it wasn’t any taller than my pointin’ finger."
According to Bobby, the Empire State Building was small enough to fit in the span between his thumb and his pointing finger.
From a distance large things can seem a lot smaller than really they are and small things held close can appear to be a lot bigger than they actually are.
ILLUS: The sun’s diameter is about 100 times that of the earth and it would take about one-million earths to fill up the inside of our sun. A penny is about ¾’s of an inch in diameter, but if placed close enough to the eye it can eclipse the sun.
From a distance God seems small and the problems that we face appear much larger than they are.
ILLUS: Upon returning from their forty day excursion into the land of Canaan the spies gave this report, "We are not able to go up against the people, for they are too strong for us…we became like grasshoppers in our own sight…" (Nu. 13:31, 33).
ILLUS: When faced with the task of feeding more than 5,000 men, women and children with five barley loaves and two fish, Peter asked, "What are these for so many people" (John 6:9).
Hopelessness and despondency are inevitable when we allow our problems to eclipse God.
Captive Israel felt forgotten and abandoned by God.
TRANS: Perhaps you’re here today and in your present dilemma you feel that God has forgotten you. If so, then you’re probably mentally and emotionally ready for God’s reply to Israel’s complaint.
When God responds to their cry, He reassures them of His love via a question about motherhood—"Can a woman forget her nursing child, and have no compassion on the son of her womb?"
Mothers are..
nurses and
doctors and
psychologists and
counselors and
chauffeurs and
coaches.
Mothers are…
developers of personalities,
molders of vocabularies, and
shapers of attitudes.
Mothers are soft voices saying, "I love you."
Mothers are a link to God, a child’s first impression of God’s love.
Mothers are all of these things and much more, but a nursing mother is an especially powerful picture.
God asks, "Can a nursing mother forget the child she has suckled and have no compassion on the son she birthed from her own womb?"
A very special bond is formed between a mother and her child.
For 9 months the mother and her baby live in the same body.
The infant’s birth is accompanied by severe pain.
She nurses the child from her own body.
He thrives on her loving care and kisses.
She knows if he’s crying for food, a dry diaper or some attention.
Although the answer to God’s question has rare exceptions, the overwhelming answer is "NO!" No, the normal nursing mother does not forget the child she has suckled. I’ve never heard of a child that died because the mother forgot she birthed it. The normal mother does not cease to love the child she birthed from her womb.
ILLUS: One cannot speak of mothers without remembering Rizpah. She was the concubine of Saul and the mother of two of Saul’s sons who were hanged by the Gibeonites. Her commitment to and love for her sons lasted past their death. In one verse Rizpah goes from lowly concubine to a character that defines motherhood.
In 2Samuel 21:10 we are told, "And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until it rained on them from the sky; and she allowed neither the birds of the sky to rest on them by day nor the beasts of the field by night."
For a period of five to six months, Rizpah maintained her vigil night and day. She acted with total disregard for her personal needs and comforts. Perhaps she had no power to save their lives, but she did all in her power to save them from the disgrace of death without burial. Her actions won for her sons and their father a funeral with honor.
Would Moses have survived if it had not been for his mother?
Would Samuel have been what he was if it were not for his loving mother?
God poses his answer in the form of a question about a nursing mother.
15 "Can a woman forget her nursing child, and have no compassion on the son of her womb?
A nursing mother’s love is unconditional. Her child makes tremendous demands and gives little to nothing back, but she pours her life out for her child’s benefit.
A nursing mother’s love is sacrificial. She gives up sleep, her schedule, her freedom and more to take care of her child and that without complaint.
God’s love is like, but much more than that of a nursing mother.
15 Even these may forget, but I will not forget you.
16 Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are continually before Me."
A nursing mother may forget her child or even cease to have compassion on the son birthed from her womb. Susan Smith did.
ILLUS: Beverly Russell, Susan’s stepfather, began molesting her when she was 15 years old. Susan’s troubled marriage to David was in the middle of a divorce and she had just been rejected by her boyfriend Tom Findley. It seems that Tom might consider marriage to Susan if she didn’t have children. So, on the night of October 25, 1994, twenty-three year old Susan Smith drove her two sons, Michael and Alex to John D. Long Lake. As they slept in the back seat of her 1990 burgundy Mazda Protégé, she stepped out of the car and let them and the car roll into the dark waters of John D. Long Lake. Days later a horrified nation was stunned by the news that Susan had drowned her two sons.
A mother may cease to love the son of her womb, but in the words of the Psalmist…
"If my father and my mother forsake me, the Lord will gather me to Himself" (Ps. 27:10).
God’s love transcends a mother’s love in that it is eternal. To Israel, He says, "I have tattooed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are continually before Me."
I am marked by My love for you.
You aren’t on My heart, you are in it.
I am constantly mindful of your plight.
God, if you love me and if you are aware of my grievous circumstances, then why don’t you deliver me from these things that plague me or at least comfort me in the midst of my adversity?
The one whose hands carry the mark of his love for us promises…
What you were you will be no more.
What you will become you never were.
What you’ve wanted will seem small when contrasted to what I will give you.
What I will restore to you will make what you’ve had seem as nothing.
Your joy will not be in the reversal of your circumstances, but in Me "your Savior, and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob".
CONCLUSION
Perhaps you are in a place you do not want to be and you are experiencing circumstances you wish would change. It may be that your life is a mess because of wrong choices you’ve made and God seems so far away.
Let me assure you, God has not forsaken you or forgotten you.
May I tell you that He loves you more than Robin Moore loves her nursing child. He loves you as you are, but He loves you too much to leave you that way.
ILLUS: Bill is wild haired; his wardrobe for college is jeans and a T-shirt with holes in it. He recently became a believer while attending a campus Bible study.
Across from campus is a well-dressed, very conservative church. One Sunday Bill decides to go there. He walks in late and shoeless. The sanctuary is packed. Bill heads down the aisle looking for a seat. Having nearly reached the pulpit, he realizes there are no empty seats, so he sits down on the carpet. The congregation is feeling uncomfortable.
Then from the back of the church, a gray-haired elder in a three-piece suit starts walking toward Bill with a cane. The worshipers don’t expect a man in his eighties to understand some college kid on the floor. With all eyes focused on the developing drama, the minister waits to begin his sermon until the elder does what he has to do.
The elderly man drops his cane on the floor and with great difficulty lowers himself to sit next to Bill.
"What I’m about to preach," the minister begins, "you’ll never remember. What you’ve just seen, you’ll never forget."
Citation: Lew Gervais, director of Pressing Onward support groups; quoted in Men of Integrity (3.2)
Today, God has come to sit next to you on the floor and to join you where you are and to bring you to where He wants you to be.
There is not a broken heart He cannot mend.
There is not a fallen tear He cannot dry.
There is not a pit so deep that He will not descend it to companion you to joy.
There is not a captivity so strong that He cannot break it.
There is not a sin so vile He cannot forgive it.
Will you let this One whose love transcends that of a nursing mother for her infant take you in His arms and love you. Love you as you are! Love you where you are! Love you to wholeness?
