Characteristics of a Mother

Today on this day which has been set aside to celebrate mother’s, it’s one in which some have the joy of honoring their mother, while for others it’s a day that magnifies the fact your mother is gone. If yours is still living and she’s near you, give her a hug, celebrate her and love on her because she is a jewel and you are truly blessed.

Mothers are special people; they have many great characteristics. And let me just say, it’s not birthing a child that makes a woman a mother, for there are many women who have been mothers, yet have never birthed a child and there are women who have unfortunately birthed children but were not mothers.

Today I’m going to talk about, Characteristics of a Mother. There are many, but I’m going to talk about just five. I’m going to be jumping around in the Bible so there is no one Scripture today, this is a topical message, so get out your pads and pens and get ready to write down the Scriptures.

As I said before, it doesn’t take birthing a child to be a mother, but I’m going to tell you about five mothers in the Bible who show us what it means to be a mother.

It’s interesting to note the word mother is a noun, and it is also a verb. When I looked up the word mother, it had several definitions, the verb mother is synonymous with taking care of someone.

The noun I will highlight for the purposes of this message is, “a term of address for a female parent or a woman having or regarded as having the status, function, or authority of a female parent.”

A woman with or given the status, function or authority of a female parent. This definition would denote you can in fact choose to give someone this place in your life. Many times, as we go through life, there are a myriad of circumstances in which we find ourselves away from our birth mothers, so we gravitate to another older female figure to pseudo fill that role. We look for someone to fill that role because mothers have a specific set of a character traits we desire or crave.

• A Mother loves you no matter what.

• A mother will pick you up when you fall, brush you off, give you a hug and if you let her, a kiss, before encouraging to get back out there and try again.

• A Mother will believe for your dream, even when you have lost hope.

• A Mother will be confident in you when you’re not confident in yourself.

• A Mother will be your biggest cheerleader, your greatest fan - their cheering will carry you across the finish line when you don’t think you have anything left.

• A Mother will cheer the loudest and the longest, even if you’re in last place, because you’ll always be first in her heart.

Those are just a few of the traits of the noun, mother.

In the Bible there are many mothers who do many things. There are many character traits and attributes.

Let’s begin with the resourceful mother. In Exodus we see a woman who we would later learn was named Jochebed. In Exodus 2:1-3. Ex 2:1 Now a man of the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman, 2 and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. 3 But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. That child was Moses.

Moses was born at a time when the Egyptians had placed the Hebrews into slavery, and in an attempt to slow the birth rate, they took away the straw needed to make bricks and increased the quota of bricks the Hebrews had to make. With all of the hard work they were requiring, the Egyptians thought this would slow the pregnancy rate; but, they were wrong.

So they did something drastic, the Pharaoh ordered the murder of all the male children born to the Hebrew women. A time which should have been filled with joy and excitement was now filled with fear and trepidation. As if childbirth was not already stressful and dangerous enough for mother and child, now there was the added stress of wondering if your child was going to be killed or not. No doubt a girl child garnered a sigh of relief, while a male child, if discovered, could quickly find a parents’ joy turning to sorrow.

Alas there were some midwives who refused the order, and spared the lives of the baby boys, but no doubt there were those who did as they were ordered and carried out the horrendous deed. But Jochebed was resourceful, when her son, Moses was born, she first hid him for three months, then when she could no longer hide him she devised a plan.

She waterproofed a papyrus basket and placed it in the reeds on the bank of the Nile River. There were many dangers he was exposed to while there. He was just three months old, so

• he could have starved,

• he could have been eaten by a crocodile,

• the basket could have become dislodged, drifted out into the river’s current and been carried away,

• Egyptian soldiers could have found the basket and killed the baby

• He could have been found and thrown into the river, left to drown

But when the hand of God is upon you, he gives you grace in times of trouble. We’re talking about a resourceful Mother, so it was no accident the basket was placed where it was, when it was. No doubt Pharaoh’s daughter came to bath at the same place at the same time and Jochebed would have learned that bit of information.

She sent her daughter Miriam to keep an eye on the basket and the baby, but there was only so much she, just a child herself could do, but she did what she could which was just enough.

When Pharaoh's daughter found the child, Miriam was there to offer up a solution of finding someone to care for the infant for the princess. How convenient, and she took him to their mother who now could openly care for her child, and get paid to do it, after all she was doing this for Pharaoh’s daughter.

This mother’s resourcefulness saved the life of her child and gave him the opportunity to be raised in the house of the very one who wanted to kill him. His would be killer is now providing for him, the finest clothing, shelter, food and education one could get…all because his mother was chosen by God and put in place the resources for this child to not only survive, but to thrive.

Mothers are resourceful.

The second character trait of a mother is she is a defender. Consider Sarah, Isaac’s mother. While she had a rocky start, (many do), she didn’t always make the best decisions (who does), yet, she was not going to stand by and watch anyone mistreat her baby.

In Genesis 21 beginning at verse 8 we see these words; Gen 21:8 When Isaac grew up and was about to be weaned, Abraham prepared a huge feast to celebrate the occasion. 9 But Sarah saw Ishmael—the son of Abraham and her Egyptian servant Hagar—making fun of her son, Isaac. 10 So she turned to Abraham and demanded, “Get rid of that slave woman and her son. He is not going to share the inheritance with my son, Isaac. I won’t have it!”

Even if it’s a situation she has created, a mother will defend her child against any and all she sees as a threat or foe, no matter how small, how large, how young or how old.

Whether they’re right and sometimes even when they’re wrong, a mother will be an advocate for or defender of her child. She will listen when they complain and then, a godly woman will give them wise counsel to carry out what they need to do to be successful.

She can talk about her child, but don’t you venture down that path and if you do, proceed at your own risk. But for the mothers out there, please be careful that your defense of your child doesn’t end up being a license to do wrong. Don’t be the mother who makes the claim that “my child would never” because the fact of the matter is, we were all born in sin, shaped in iniquity and our thoughts are not always of a pure nature. Some of the people housed in our prisons, did do it.

The third Mother is the self-sacrificing mother, she can be found in Mark 7:24 - 30 - 24 And from thence he arose, (we’re talking about Jesus) and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and entered into an house, and would have no man know it: but he could not be hid. 25 For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at his feet: 26 The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter. 27 But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it unto the dogs. 28 And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs. 29 And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter. 30 And when she was come to her house, she found the devil gone out, and her daughter laid upon the bed.”

Jesus travels to a place where he would not be so well known, but there was a woman who did know who he was, she needed a miracle and she knew he was the miracle worker. She was not a Jewish woman, the people for whom Jesus came, but yet and still, she was a mother with a daughter, that needed help and ethnicity was not going to stop her.

This woman came to Jesus and bowed down at his feet. She first showed him honor, then let her request be made known. Her daughter needed help. Jesus’ response didn’t deter her, her need and her request were still first and foremost in her thoughts.

When he responded that it wasn’t fair that the food meant for the children be thrown to the dogs, she didn’t get offended, she didn’t get indignant, she didn’t get up and storm off, she didn’t go off; she simply responded, even the dogs get the crumbs that fall from the Master’s table. And with that response, Jesus healed her daughter. It was through this mother’s faith and self-sacrifice that her daughter was healed.

A self-sacrificing mother will sacrifice even her dignity for the good of her child, she will ask for mercy for her child’s need to be met.

The fourth mother characteristic I’m going to talk about is the obedient mother. In 2 Kings chapter 4 you’ll find the story of a woman and her dealings with the prophet Elisha.

This woman had a husband who had died that was part of Elisha’s band of prophets. When he died, he left her in debt and the creditors were coming to take her sons to work off their father’s debt, so she appealed to Elisha for help. Beginning in verse 1 of 2 Kings 4:1 - 7 - “Now the wife of a member of the company of prophets cried to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead; and you know that your servant feared the Lord, but a creditor has come to take my two children as slaves.” (The KJV identifies those children as sons) 2 Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” She answered, “Your servant has nothing in the house, except a jar of oil.” 3 He said, “Go outside, borrow vessels from all your neighbors, empty vessels and not just a few. 4 Then go in, and shut the door behind you and your children, and start pouring into all these vessels; when each is full, set it aside.” 5 So she left him and shut the door behind her and her children; they kept bringing vessels to her, and she kept pouring. 6 When the vessels were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.” But he said to her, “There are no more.” Then the oil stopped flowing. 7 She came and told the man of God, and he said, “Go sell the oil and pay your debts, and you and your children can live on the rest.”

This mother was about to lose her sons to a creditor, they were going to be made slaves for seven years to pay off their father’s debt. This would leave their mother in a precarious situation also, because in this time, in this place, a woman had a difficult time without the covering of a man.

This woman knew first who her husband was, second, who he served and third, what they did and so she went to the leader Elisha and told him, look my husband, your servant, is dead. You know he feared the Lord and now a creditor is coming to take away my sons and make them slaves.

No mother wants to see her child enslaved and so when Elisha gave her instructions about what to do, she did it. She exercised faith, she was obedient, despite how crazy it sounded, despite what others may have thought, she was obedient.

It was up to her to follow the directions she received. No one else could do it for her. One son brought her an empty jar and the other carefully moved the ones that were filled. As long as her sons brought her jars, she poured and the oil flowed. The oil flowed until they ran out of jars, not oil, but jars.

This oil was valuable, it was the result of a miracle. We know that it’s valuable because Elisha now tells her to sell it, pay her debts and live on the rest. She went from being a widow with nothing but a jar of oil, who was about to lose her two sons to slavery for seven years, to now being a businesswoman and provider.

Obedience to God will turn your circumstance around in ways you’ve never seen and could not imagine. When your children see you being obedient to God, to the laws of the land, to your parents if you’re blessed to still have them, they see it being walked out before them and will in turn practice it themselves.

The fifth and final characteristic of a Mother I’m going to tell you about today is the persistent mother. Staying is 2 Kings chapter four, the next part of the chapter, beginning at verse 8, tells the story of a wealthy woman who was married and had no children. I’m going to tell you the story, you read the whole chapter in your study time this week.

This woman and her husband hosted Elisha whenever he came to town; she even had her husband build what she called a roof chamber for him, so he’d have his own place to stay whenever he came. So Elisha wanted to do something for her but she was content and requested nothing.

Still, Elisha wanted to do something to repay the kindness she had shown him so he asks Gehazi, his servant, what he could do for her and he tells him, “Well she has no son and her husband is old.”

In those days women who had no son, were looked upon by others as cursed or forgotten by God, it didn’t matter what else they had, if they had no son they were somehow, damaged goods. When Elisha tells her she will conceive a son, her response is interesting, and I paraphrase, “Don’t play with me.”

But sure ‘nough, the woman had a son. But when that son was older, he was working in the field with his father and complained of a bad headache. The father, was a typical man and told the servant, take him to his mother. When he got there his mother held him in her lap until he died. But this was not the end of the story.

This mother was not giving up her son, she hadn’t asked for a child, but he was here, and she loved him. She took him and laid down on Elisha’s bed, shut the door and was going to get the man who had started all this in the first place.

She told her husband send me a servant and a donkey so I can quickly go to the man of God and come back again. He questioned her why go now, but she said, “It will be alright”. She then tells the servant, go and don’t slow down unless I tell you to. This woman was on a mission to save her son and she was not wasting any time.

Elisha sees her coming, sends his servant to meet her and asks if everything was alright, is your husband good? Is your son good? To which she responds, “It is all right”. This would seem to be a strange response from a woman whose son just died in her arms, but she was speaking from what she knew in her heart, not from what she saw with her eyes.

Elisha tried to send his servant Gehazi, but this woman was persistent, and she was not going to leave without Elisha coming with her. He was the one who had promised her this son now he was the one who was going to fix this situation. And so Elisha went, meanwhile Gehazi goes ahead of them to the boy and does as Elisha had instructed him, but nothing happens, the boy is still dead.

And then Elisha gets there, goes to his room where the mother had laid her son, closes the door and proceeds to do what he knows to do. He has closed the mother and his servant out and the mother goes away and I just believe no doubt to pray. She had done what she knew to do and all there was to do now was wait and pray, pray and wait.

When Elisha emerges from his room, he’s got someone with him and he’s alright. Elisha sends for his mother and tells her take your son. He tells her to take her son who is now alive again, who has been given to her a second time. In response, she came, fell at his feet, and bowed to the ground, she was saying thank you. Then she took her son and left.

This mother was persistent, she knew what and who her child needed, and she was not going to let anything keep her from her mission. Sometimes even our husbands can’t fix it. Ladies we must be careful we don’t place our husband’s in God’s place. (That was just a side note, I threw that in for free).

A mother will be persistent when it comes to her child or children, she knows what they need and she will do everything in her power to give it to them, even if it’s to step back and let them fall. And even then, she will not be far away so she can pick them up, dust them off, give them a hug, and a kiss if they’ll let her and encourage them to keep going.

A mother’s love is matched only by God’s love in sending his only Son to die for our sins and the Son’s love in sacrificing his life for us.

• It was a love that was resourceful, he took what he was given and multiplied it for the masses.

• It’s a love that defends when the accuser makes an allegation against us.

• It’s a love that was self-sacrificing, Jesus disregarded his pain and suffering

o when he allowed them to beat him all night long

o when he went to the cross

o when he hung there from the sixth to the ninth hour

o when he gave up the ghost

o when he went to hell, set the captives free and snatched the keys to death, hell and the grave

o when he rose again

o when ascended to the right hand of the Father where he now sits interceding on our behalf

Jesus was self-sacrificing

• It was a love that was obedient, he only did what his Father told him to do.

• And it was a love that was persistent, he never gave up on us. He could have called a legion of angels to get down off that cross, but He stayed there.

o For you and for me he endured.

o For you and for me he was wounded

o For you and for me he was bruised

o For you and for me he was the sacrifice for our sins building a bridge back to God the Father.

When sin separated us, Jesus joined us back together. He took our sins and now we are the righteousness of God.

If you’ve never accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, this day, which has been set aside for Mothers, is the best gift you could give her. Whether she is still living or has gone on to be with the Lord, this is a gift that will last for eternity.

It’s a simple prayer, Father, I know I’m a sinner, please forgive me, Jesus I’m asking you to come into my heart and be the Lord of my life. Amen.

If you prayed that simple prayer welcome to the family. We’d love to connect with you. Please contact us at [e-mail] and let us know. And if you’d like to join our family on Zoom send us a message at that same address and we’ll send you an invite.

God bless you, Happy Mother’s Day and please, stay safe.