God Is Also Like a Mother to Us

Introduction

Between Mother's Day and Father's Day, Jean-Luc Menchon invites us to discover another facet of the God we call Father. Without ever changing His nature, the Bible repeatedly uses maternal images to describe His heart toward His children. This message goes through six qualities we usually attribute to mothers, qualities that find their source first in God Himself.

Message Outline

1. An unconditional and faithful love

• A mother does not disown her child, even when he makes serious mistakes, she stays there, she fights to pull him out of his most complicated situations.
• In Isaiah 49:15, God declares: "Can a woman forget her nursing child? [...] Even if she should forget, I will not forget you."
• Just as the mother in the film mentioned fights with everything she has to pull her son out of drug addiction, God seeks you: "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost" (Luke 19:10).
• If you're here for the first time, it's no coincidence: He is seeking you, He wants to speak to you and touch your heart.

2. She suffers to give life

• No mother has brought her child into the world without suffering. Since Genesis 3:16, childbirth has been marked by pain, a consequence of sin.
• This suffering is a foreshadowing of what Jesus accomplished on the cross: to give us life, He had to suffer.
• "For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God" (1 Peter 3:18).
• This verse is not to be taken lightly: He suffered for your salvation, and He is still seeking you today.

3. She sacrifices herself for her children

• Before King Solomon, two women argue over a child. The real mother would rather give up her son than see him die (1 Kings 3:24-27).
• The testimony of Andrea, a mother who agreed to welcome her little daughter Yana, who has Down syndrome, after hearing God tell her, "To whom do you want Me to give her, if not to you? Otherwise no one else will want her", illustrates this heart of sacrifice.
• God Himself agreed to be patient with the "disability" of sin in humanity. While we were living as if He weren't there, "Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).
• Even if you have never wanted anything to do with God, He has already decided to save you by sending Jesus to the cross.

4. She comforts her children

• "As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted in Jerusalem" (Isaiah 66:13).
• When a little boy is upset, often only his mother's arms can help. We too, in our difficult moments, need arms that comfort and words that reassure.
• Too often, we look for this comfort in the wrong solutions. Pastor Dominique Fontaine tells how he himself slipped, drink after drink, into alcoholism, before God delivered him through the support of those around him.
• Jesus says: "If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed" (John 8:34-36). He does not merely deliver from addiction: He heals the root of the problem.

5. She is full of gentleness to teach and correct

• "We were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children" (1 Thessalonians 2:7).
• Proverbs 1:8 says: "Hear, my son, your father's instruction, and forsake not your mother's teaching." The father gives direction, the mother helps put it into practice day by day with gentleness and patience.
• This is how the mother of Reinhard Bonnke, while her husband Hermann had gone off to war, walked alongside her son through his conversion at age 10, his baptism in the Holy Spirit at 11, and the beginning of his evangelistic ministry.
• Our heavenly Father acts in the same way: He gives His law (Galatians 3:24), sends Jesus to fulfill it, then gives us the Holy Spirit to help us each day walk in His will.

6. She watches over and intercedes for her children

• In Matthew 20:20-22, the mother of the sons of Zebedee approaches Jesus to intercede for her children, even without grasping what her request truly implied.
• The testimony of a mother who prayed for years for her alcoholic son: God delivered him, then took him home soon after. The answer came later: "I took him while he was still saved, because he was about to fall back." God knows all things; He does not make mistakes.
• Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father and intercedes for us. "Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? [...] Christ died, more than that, He was raised, He is at the right hand of God, and He intercedes for us" (Romans 8:33-34).
• "Neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:38-39).

Key Takeaways

• God remains our Father, but He also carries all the qualities found in a mother's heart: He created us male and female in His image.
• His love is unconditional and faithful: even when you have forgotten Him, He does not forget you.
• On the cross, He suffered to give you life, and He sought you while you were not seeking Him.
• He does not merely deliver you from an addiction: He heals the root of the problem that dragged you into the rut.
• Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father and intercedes for you. If you remain attached to Him, nothing will be able to separate you from His love.

Personal Application

1. Do I truly believe that God is seeking me personally, or do I think of myself as "forgotten" by Him?
2. Where do I turn when I need to be comforted, toward God, or toward "glasses of alcohol" that end up trapping me?
3. What addiction or evil do I need to lay before Jesus today so He can heal it at the root?
4. Like the mother who prayed for years for her alcoholic son, who am I called to intercede for consistently, even if the answer is slow in coming?
5. If I am a parent and I feel like I've failed with my children, am I ready to lay down this burden before God and receive His light and easy burden instead?

Verses Cited

• Matthew 23:37 · Jerusalem, as a hen gathers her chicks
• Isaiah 49:15 · Can a woman forget her nursing child?
• Genesis 3:16 · In pain you shall bring forth children
• 1 Peter 3:18 · Christ suffered for sins, once for all
• 1 Kings 3:24-27 · The judgment of Solomon
• Luke 19:10 · The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost
• Romans 5:8 · Christ died for us while we were still sinners
• Isaiah 66:13 · As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you
• John 8:34-36 · If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed
• 1 Thessalonians 2:7 · Gentle like a nursing mother
• Proverbs 1:8 · Hear your father's instruction and your mother's teaching
• Galatians 3:24 · The law was our guardian to lead us to Christ
• Matthew 20:20-22 · The mother of the sons of Zebedee intercedes
• Romans 8:33-39 · Nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God

Frequently Asked Questions

Does saying that God is "like a mother" call God's fatherhood into question?

No. Jean-Luc Menchon makes this clear from the outset: God is our Father, and it is Jesus Himself who taught us to call Him that. The message does not propose calling God "our mother," but points out that humanity (male and female), was created in His image. The qualities we attribute to mothers therefore come first from God, and the Bible itself uses maternal imagery to describe His heart (Isaiah 49:15, Isaiah 66:13, Matthew 23:37).

Why does God sometimes take a loved one home shortly after their conversion, as in the testimony mentioned?

Jean-Luc shares the story of a mother who saw her son finally saved, only to lose him a few weeks later. The answer God gave her after years of prayer: "I took him while he was still saved, because he was about to fall back." We do not always understand God's timing, but He knows all things, He does not make mistakes, and He always acts in keeping with His love and wisdom.

What should I do if I'm caught in an addiction (alcohol, drugs, or other)?

The message reminds us that Jesus does not merely deliver from an addiction: He also heals the root of the problem that led to it. Sometimes He sets a person free instantly, Jean-Luc testifies to his own deliverance from smoking overnight. Sometimes He asks for a first step and support along the way. Do not turn to the wrong solutions that seem to bring relief but end up trapping you. Draw near to Jesus, talk to trusted brothers and sisters, and let Him do His work.