Kia ora,
I don’t know how to start this Soul Feast Letter, friend.
Some of you won’t like it. Others will be shocked. Some will nod and feel at home. The rest will be unsure and uncomfortable but strangely warmed by what I am about to share.
God has always been just G O D to me until I discovered his Hebrew names (check out my book on “Delighting in the Names of God” ). This delightful discovery revolutionised my relationship and prayer life with God.
In the past couple of years I have learned to call God, Abba Father just like Jesus taught 2,000 years ago. A personal God who looks out and cares for his daughter. This was another change that made a big impact on my relationship with Him.
This year, I have discovered a feminine, mothering aspect to God’s nature that is super comforting. What?? How does God have a feminine side?
That’s what my first reaction was too. But let’s look at Genesis 1:27
So God created human beings in his own image.
In the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
Genesis 1:27 NLT
As a woman, I am created in God’s image. So doesn’t that mean, if I reflect the image of God then God has some feminine qualities too?
But is this backed up in other parts of Scripture? Does God himself refer to his feminine qualities? Yes he does!
For this is what the Lord says: “Behold, I extend peace to her (Jerusalem) like a river, And the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream; And you will be nursed, you will be carried on the hip and rocked back and forth on the knees. As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you; And you will be comforted in Jerusalem.”
Isaiah 66:12-13 NASB
This image, recorded in Isaiah, reminds me of Jesus welcoming all the kids that gathered and jostled around him while the ‘grownups’ tried to shoo them away.
Another image that comes to my mind, is of a mother listening out for her child’s cries. When my sons were little, I would always wake upon hearing a cry. It’s just something natural for most mothers, whose ears are constantly tuned to their children. It seems though, most fathers sleep through the cries. It’s comforting to know this motherly aspect of God’s nature.
There are other Scriptures:
Hosea 11:3-4. God is described as a mother.
Hosea 13:8. God described as a mother bear.
Deuteronomy 32:18. God who gives birth.
Isaiah 49:15. God compared to a nursing mother.
Isaiah 42:14. God as a woman in labour.
Psalm 131:2. God as a mother.
Matthew 23:37 & Luke 13:34. God as a mother hen.
Jesus shocked the listeners that day when he answered the question - teach us to pray Lord? He didn’t start with, Elohim or Yahweh or El Shaddai, all names for God that the Jews were comfortable with. No, he taught them to call the great I Am, Father. This was so different to what they had been taught before. It invited them into a whole layer of intimacy and warmth that they weren’t used to.
The motherly, feminine aspect of God’s nature towards us hasn’t been preached much from our church pulpits. May I say, that’s probably down to our patriarchal cultures, of which our English society used to be and which still is in most churches. But we have missed out on seeing and encountering God in all his mystery and glory.
Let’s break open any boxes that we have placed God into.
God is much more and then more again. Father and Mother.
We can’t exhaust all there is to know and experience of Him. That is super exciting. Just as well we have a lifetime plus eternity to explore, discover and enjoy our God.
So, friend what is your response to knowing God’s more feminine descriptions? What parts of God’s nature and essence comforts or intrigues you the most at the moment? Click the comment button below and let’s start a conversation in community.
Ka kite anō (see you later)
This Week’s Resources
~ Ok this is far too cute to not share - “You’ll Be In My Heart from Disney’s Tarzan - by 4 year Claire Ryann and Dad
~If you feel like giving up and in a dry spell or season - have a listen to this encouraging song! - “Don’t Give Up On Me” by Andy Grammer and a bunch of 10 year olds!
~ “Mother God” by Teresa Kim Pecinovsky. This is a picture book with rhyming text that introduces images of God as inspired by feminine descriptions from Scripture. The first rhyme is “You know God the Father, But God is your Mother too. You are made in Her image - She is making all things new.”