Mother’s Day Sermon: God who reveals Himself through women
Today is a day that we can all celebrate! Each of us has received from God a mother; either a biological mother, or a stepmom, or a “mom” who went out of their way to demonstrate the love and caring a birth mom might give us but could not or would not. My heart bursts with joy on this day as I remember and think of my own sainted mom, what she meant in my life and how God used her to form me into who I am and how I serve Him today!
During this past Lent we did a sermon study called “The Road to Moriah.” In one of our sermons, we looked at Hagar, the servant maid of Sarah, who gave her to Abraham to be his wife and perhaps to have children for Sarah through Hagar. Abraham did take Hagar as his wife, and she did become pregnant. When she did, she immediately despised her mistress, Sarah.
So, Sarah went to Abraham and told him what was going on and Abraham allowed her to do whatever she wanted with Hagar. Sarah mistreated Hagar badly, so badly that Hagar fled from her and went out into the wilderness. While there, she was visited by the Angel of the Lord who asked her where she was going and what she was doing.
Sarah replied that she was running away from her mistress, Sarah. The Angel of the Lord told her to go back to her mistress and submit to her and that God would make a great nation out of the son that was in her womb. Sarah did return and serve Sarah and then there is an interesting statement in the biblical record,
Genesis 16:13 – “She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me.” NIV 83
In the Hagar account we see that God is the one who sees us. In fact, since discovering that revelation of God through Hagar I have found eight other women, through whom God has revealed himself. There is the God who hears – Hannah. The God who protects – Tamar. The God who provides – Rahab. The God who heals – the woman who was bleeding. The God who forgives – Mary (of Mary and Martha), and the God who is compassionate – Mary (the mother of Jesus).
This Sunday, as we celebrate mom’s day, we are also going to celebrate God’s gift of women and examine God’s revelation in those mentioned above. Join us this Sunday, and bring a friend, or your mom.
-Pastor Ken