The Praise due to a Mother

Introduction

Recognition of Mother’s Day.

A mother’s job description (Mom, You’re incredible!, Linda Weber) - “What in the World Do I Do All Day?...

baby feeder, changer, bather, rocker, burper, hugger • listener to crying and fussing and thousands of questions • picker-upper of food and debris cast on the floor … • comforter, encourager, counselor … • linguistic expert for two-year-old dialects … • listener—to the husband as well as the children—about their day, their needs, their concerns, their aspirations • teacher of everything from how to chew food to how to drive a car • assistant on school projects … • censor of TV, movies, and books … • reader of thousands of children’s books • planner and hostess of children’s birthday parties • planner and hostess of adult dinner parties … • central control for getting the appliance fixed or the carpet shampooed • executioner of ants, roaches, wasps, and other pests • resident historian in charge of photo albums, baby books, and school record books … • resident encyclopedia source for all those hard questions that seem to arise … • food preservation expert … • keeper and locator of birth certificates and other valuable documents • ironer of wrinkles … • appointment desk for the family’s visits to the doctor, the dentist, the orthodontist, the barber, and the mechanic • seeker of God, one who prays … • cleaner of the oven, the drawers, the closets, the garage, the curtains, the windows, and even the walls … • refinisher of furniture • hubby’s romantic, attentive spouse … • emergency medical technician and ‘ambulance’ driver And what else do I do? Well, among many other things, I do the following: • clip ten fingernails and ten toenails for each young child regularly • return library books … • choose gifts, purchase gifts, wrap gifts for birthdays, Christmas, Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, wedding showers, baby showers, anniversaries, and any other event that might even remotely require a gift … • mail packages, buy stamps • drop off the dry cleaning; pick up the dry cleaning … • haul everything that needs repair • attend recitals • attend every school sporting event imaginable • chauffeur everyone everywhere … • comb little girl’s hairdos … • help in the classroom … • attend school PTA meetings and conferences • act as a room mother, making things and organizing more parties • chaperon field trips and special events • coordinate car pools … • serve as a Scout leader, a Blue Bird leader, an AWANA leader, a Sunday school teacher … • deliver forgotten lunches, forgotten homework and forgotten athletic gear … • make bank deposits and withdrawals

In 2005 Newsweek actually had the courage to say “Mother matters” and pointed out that according to Salary.com, “Stay-at-home moms, if compensated for all the hours they work, would net $131,471 a year”

Newsweek Staff, “Survey: Mother Matters”

Proverbs 31:13-27.

Proverbs 31:28-30

A mother receives honor from her children.

v. 28a - “Her children rise up and bless her…”

1 Corinthians 13:4–7 “Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

John 16:21 ““Whenever a woman is in labor she has pain, because her hour has come; but when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy that a child has been born into the world.”

Isaiah 49:15 ““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.”

Hannah 1 Samuel 1.

A mother receives honor from her Husband.

v. 28b-29 - “Her husband also, and he praises her, saying: Many daughters have done nobly, But you excell them all.”

Proverbs 31:10-12.

Genesis 2:18 “Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.””

Proverbs 12:4 “An excellent wife is the crown of her husband, But she who shames him is like rottenness in his bones.”

Proverbs 18:22 “He who finds a wife finds a good thing And obtains favor from the Lord.”

Proverbs 19:14 “House and wealth are an inheritance from fathers, But a prudent wife is from the Lord.”

A mother receives honor from God.

v. 30 - “Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, But a woman who fears the Lord, She shall be praised.”

Proverbs 1:7 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

What matters is that this lady knows the Lord, loves the Lord, and fears the Lord. Her passion in life is to please him, know him, obey him, and honor him. Such a woman will receive praise (in v. 30 it is implied the praise come from the Lord).

Jonathan Akin, Exalting Jesus in Proverbs, ed. David Platt, Daniel L. Akin, and Tony Merida, Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2017), 180.

Proverbs 31:31 “Give her the product of her hands, And let her works praise her in the gates.”

Conclusion

Women in the bible...

The Gospel is the answer...