I. Introduction
Depending upon who you are, where you were raised (north, south, east or west), how you were brought up, whether your family was low, middle or upper class, all of these may have had an impact upon what immediately goes through your mind when someone says Mother’s Day. For some, the thoughts of good home cooking comes to mind; for others they envision a mother who made their clothes for them; while for some they may be reminded of someone who was always there when they fell down.
It’s inevitable. When someone says those two words, Mother’s Day, we can’t help but think about some episode, emotion, a spoken word, or a look that our mother may have given us at one time or another.
It is good to set apart a day in recognition of mothers, especially good Christian mothers that we know. In at least 20 different places in the Old Testament it tells us to honor our fathers and mothers. We honor them, not by simply saying kind words and treating them nicely, but we honor them by follow the Biblical rules that they have taught us through the power of the Holy Spirit. We honor them by adhering to the manners, the etiquette and the morals that they diligently displayed before us. We honor them through our good speech and good works that are displayed for all to see. Your actions and deeds are to God, yes, but they were cultivated by the good mother that was set to watch over you by God.
Mothers should be the tender side of the father/mother team, with the father being more stern. As such, Mother’s Day is, I believe, a little bit more special to most people than Father’s Day. Not only are they the tender side of the father/mother team, but, they are also the ones that usually spend the most time with the child during the early years. So, with that, we can say, yes, Mother’s Day is a little bit more special than Father’s Day.
When we hear the phrase, Oh, she’s a godly woman and mother, there are several characteristics that can immediately be put down on paper. For us, looking in Genesis 24, we see many of those characteristics coming forward, that we have seen in our own mothers.
In our scriptures, we see:
A Covenant Woman: a Christian 1-4
A Willing Woman 5-9
A Chosen Woman 10-16
A Kind and Submissive Woman 17-20
A Commendable Woman 21-25
The Servant retells the Story 26~57
A Godly Woman 58-63
An Honorable Woman 64-67
II. The Message
A Covenant Woman: a Christian 1-4
24:1 Abraham was now old and well advanced in years, and the LORD had blessed him in every way. 2 He said to the chief servant in his household, the one in charge of all that he had, "Put your hand under my thigh. 3 I want you to swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living, 4 but will go to my country and my own relatives and get a wife for my son Isaac."
Abraham is very adamant that his son, Isaac, marry a woman from his home country. It was important because he knew their religion, their commitment and their devotion to God. How? When Abraham was called out of the Ur of the Chaldeans, he spent time in the area with his relatives. Knowing the great amount of faith that he had in God, it is obvious that he witnessed to them, and introduced them to the true Creator, the LORD. We know this by the words that Rebekah used in referring to the LORD, Jehovah, when she was speaking with Abraham’s chief servant at the well.
A woman and godly mother must be a woman of the covenant. She must be a Christian before the marriage takes place. We know that Rebekah believe in God by what she said to the servant, and, her good treatment of the servant.
Sometimes, people fall in love with someone that is not a Christian. They set a wedding date, thinking all along that they can convert the person to Christianity after they get married. Sorry, it will probably not happen as easy as that.
In 2 Corinthians 6:14, it says “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?”
We are told not to marry unbelievers. And, what’s worse, many times it goes the other way. The non-Christian, at the same time is saying to themselves, “Well, I will just put a stop to this going to church after we get married.”
There is nothing wrong with putting God first in a relationship. As a matter of fact, God should be put first in the relationship. Be up front with your stance on Christianity before you become a couple and God will surely bless you, just like he did Abraham.
A Willing Woman
5 The servant asked him, "What if the woman is unwilling to come back with me to this land? Shall I then take your son back to the country you came from?" 6 "Make sure that you do not take my son back there," Abraham said. 7 "The LORD, the God of heaven, who brought me out of my father’s household and my native land and who spoke to me and promised me on oath, saying, ’To your offspring I will give this land’--he will send his angel before you so that you can get a wife for my son from there. 8 If the woman is unwilling to come back with you, then you will be released from this oath of mine. Only do not take my son back there."
9 So the servant put his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham and swore an oath to him concerning this matter.
A woman that is chosen by God to bring up a family is a woman who is willing to selflessly follow God’s will for her family. She is willing to put away any dreams of grandeur, any dreams of independent success for herself and follow God’s will for her husband and family.
When we look at our scriptures here, we see that Abraham’s chief servant was primarily concerned with rejection. He is demonstrating a small amount of faith in Abraham’s God by basically saying, “I will go and your God will lead me to a woman, but, what if He doesn’t make her come with me?”
This is similar to the problem that Moses is faced with when God asked him to go to the Israelites in Egypt and tell them that God sent them? “Well, what if they don’t believe that you, meaning God, sent me?
Here in Abraham, then later with Moses, we see scriptures that all point to the Gospel message of salvation! What are we saying here? God calls all unto Him through various ways [people]. The burden of salvation is not the responsibility of the messenger; it is not the people that are bringing the message that are rejected or burdened with rejection, it is God.
Abraham tells the servant to go with the message, with the good news of an upcoming wedding, and if no one is willing to come back, then the burden is not on him.
The good news of the Bible is just that…As Christians we are to go forth and take the message and the burden of rejection doesn’t not rest on us.
Those that are willing, like Rebekah, will step forward and hear God’s call to gather under His wings. Those that are willing women of God will relate the message of salvation to their children and bring them up in the admonition of the LORD.
An essential characteristic of a godly mother and a woman of God, is that she is willing.
A Chosen Woman
10 Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels and left, taking with him all kinds of good things from his master. He set out for Aram Naharaim and made his way to the town of Nahor. 11 He had the camels kneel down near the well outside the town; it was toward evening, the time the women go out to draw water. 12 Then he prayed, "O LORD, God of my master Abraham, give me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. 13 See, I am standing beside this spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water. 14 May it be that when I say to a girl, ’Please let down your jar that I may have a drink,’ and she says, ’Drink, and I’ll water your camels too’--let her be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master." 15 Before he had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah, who was the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor. 16 The girl was very beautiful, a virgin; no man had ever lain with her. She went down to the spring, filled her jar and came up again.
Every woman of God that is willing to obey God’s will for their lives, will be chosen by God to participate in His good plan of reconciling this world to Himself. If that includes marriage and a family, then she will be chosen for marriage and family.
The chief servant of Abraham prayed to God that direction and success be given, and it was. His prayer was very specific and so should yours.
A godly mother and woman of God is a chosen woman of God to be exactly where God wants her to be. If you, whether a man or woman, are not married and you have within you an insatiable desire to be married. Then don’t worry! If there is prayer, like the chief servant praying here in our scripture passages, then there is a plan, there is a direction, and there will be success, in God.
Let me repeat, in God!. The relationship must progress in His Name, and in His Time. There is a danger of jumping at a relationship that may not be part of God’s will for your life. So, it is essential that we remember that every relationship should come together after much prayer, and not simply an insatiable desire to get married. Additionally, your prayer, if it is in keeping with God’s will, will be answered as quickly as the servant’s prayer was answered, “Before he had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder.” A true woman of God in a relationship, should be chosen by God to be in that relationship and that will only happen through much prayer.
A Kind and Submissive Woman
17 The servant hurried to meet her and said, "Please give me a little water from your jar." 18 "Drink, my lord," she said, and quickly lowered the jar to her hands and gave him a drink. 19 After she had given him a drink, she said, "I’ll draw water for your camels too, until they have finished drinking." 20 So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough, ran back to the well to draw more water, and drew enough for all his camels.
Another characteristic of the godly mother and woman of God is that she is a kind and submissive woman.
For Rebekah, here is a man that she had never met before, yet she was kind to him. Undoubtedly led by God to be kind to this man, Rebekah was submissive to his request for water. But, she didn’t stop there. She said that she would “draw water for [the servant’s] camels, too.”
The godly mother and woman of God is kind and submissive. She is kind to her husband and children and submissive to God and her husband.
The Bible tells us in Ephesians 5:22~14,
“22 Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.”
Rebekah was indeed follow this rule before it was every written by Paul, and before she had even been introduced to her future husband.
A Commendable Woman
21 Without saying a word, the man watched her closely to learn whether or not the LORD had made his journey successful. 22 When the camels had finished drinking, the man took out a gold nose ring weighing a beka and two gold bracelets weighing ten shekels. 23 Then he asked, "Whose daughter are you? Please tell me, is there room in your father’s house for us to spend the night?" 24 She answered him, "I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son that Milcah bore to Nahor." 25 And she added, "We have plenty of straw and fodder, as well as room for you to spend the night."
It doesn’t matter who you are or where you are, someone will be watching you. The servant watched Rebekah as she watered the camels. What, in particular was he watching? Strength, wisdom, care, dedication to doing a good job. A lot can be learned about a person by simply watching them water the camels, or sweep the floor, or wash the dishes, or any one of a hundred other small tasks. What came out of this? She was commended by God through the chief servant of Abraham.
Again, it doesn’t matter who you are and what you may be doing, there may be someone watching you, especially if you are the mother of children. You are being watched many hours of the day by your husband and children. Can you say that you are commendable in their eyes.
A godly mother and woman of God is commendable before the Lord.
A re-telling of the story…
26-57
A Godly Woman
58 So they called Rebekah and asked her, "Will you go with this man?" "I will go," she said. 59 So they sent their sister Rebekah on her way, along with her nurse and Abraham’s servant and his men. 60 And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, "Our sister, may you increase to thousands upon thousands; may your offspring possess the gates of their enemies." 61 Then Rebekah and her maids got ready and mounted their camels and went back with the man. So the servant took Rebekah and left. 62 Now Isaac had come from Beer Lahai Roi, for he was living in the Negev. 63 He went out to the field one evening to meditate, and as he looked up, he saw camels approaching.
Rebekah firmly recognized the hand of God in this arrangement and willingly submitted to leaving her family and going with the chief servant. A mother needs to be a godly mother to make the right decisions for herself, her husband, and her family in many different matters. Rebekah was able to answer quickly and without hesitation. She was not indecisive in this matter, nor did she need a few days to mull over the idea of going to Canaan as she was led by God. Rebekah was a godly woman which enable her to quickly recognize God’s will and way for her life..
An Honorable Woman
64 Rebekah also looked up and saw Isaac. She got down from her camel 65 and asked the servant, "Who is that man in the field coming to meet us?" "He is my master," the servant answered. So she took her veil and covered herself. 66 Then the servant told Isaac all he had done. 67 Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah, and he married Rebekah. So she became his wife, and he loved her; and Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.
There are rules, customs, and traditions that have been handed down through the years for many reasons. In covering herself with the veil, Rebekah was honoring her future husband.
Honor should never be misplaced in any relationship, especially between husband and wife. Where there is no honor, there is no partnership. Where there is no partnership, there is no marriage.
III. Summary
A godly Christian woman chosen by God that is kind and submissive to her husband and commended by those around her not only honors her father, mother, and her husband, but she is honoring God as well. Mother’s day is more than just another day that we set aside to talk about someone or to hand out flowers to, though that is a way of honor them. Mother’s Day is definitely not like President’s Day, Veteran’s Day, Father’s Day, Valentine’s Day, or any other day. Why? Because, come to think of it, without mothers there would not be any of these other days, now would there?
In summary, we have looked at the godly mother and woman of God characteristics as presented in Genesis 24. We have seen that to be a woman of God, a mother must be:
A Covenant Woman: a Christian 1-4
A Willing Woman 5-9
A Chosen Woman 10-14
A Kind and Submissive Woman 15-20
A Commendable Woman 21-25
Retelling the Story 26~57
A Godly Woman 58-63
An Honorable Woman 64-67
