I Know My Mother Loved Me

Well, let me add my Happy Mother’s Day as well to all the mothers who are here today, and we’re very thankful for you and for your presence, and also thankful for the good work that you do as mothers. And this morning, we’re going to be thinking about our mothers as we consider what the Scriptures have to say about mothers, and I hope that you’ll open your Bibles and think a little bit with me along these lines.

And so this lesson is entitled, I Know My Mother Loved Me. And then we’re going to look at a few things. I have a wonderful mother, and she is a tremendous blessing, has been, is, and will be forever a tremendous blessing to me. And I’m very thankful for my own mother.

And so I kind of wrote this lesson with her in mind, but I’d like to start us out with Judges chapter 13, verses 3 through 5, and just thinking about the mother of Samson, and even though her name isn’t mentioned in the text, there’s some Jewish tradition that thinks her name was Azel Poni, from 1 Chronicles chapter 4 and verse 3.

There’s a woman mentioned there in the Chronicles named Hazel Poni, and some scholars think that maybe that was Samson’s mother. But anyway, we have this account here of her and her interaction with the angel of the Lord, who appeared to the woman and said to her, Indeed, now you are barren, and have born no children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. Now, therefore, please be careful not to drink wine or similar drink, and not to eat anything unclean, for behold, you shall conceive and bear a son, and no razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb, and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.

And so, here was Samson’s mother, and she was interacting with this angel, and the angel gave her instructions on how she was to behave while she was pregnant with Samson. And you know, mothers take great pains in eating the right things and drinking the right things while they’re pregnant to make sure that their child does not have any problems when the child is born.

And this kind of is a great passage to think about, the care and love that a mother gives a child, even from conception. And it’s tremendous thought along those lines. And so mothers love their children, even from the very beginning.

And we have no doubt that Samson’s mother, if her name was Hazel of Polonai, maybe it was, that she did a tremendous job in making sure that Samson was born correctly according to God’s holy word. And so she loved her son, and she was very considerate. Now, I know my mother loved me for many reasons as well because, now I was adopted, But at the same time, she did a tremendous job of rearing me and giving me things that were very beneficial for me.

And we want to start with this. I know my mother loved me because she disciplined me when I did wrong. And, you know, this is one of the key thoughts within Scripture of how we know that God loves us and how Christ loves us because they love us enough to tell us when we’re doing wrong and seek to correct us, you know.

And this is part of a mother’s job. And, of course, when we look in the Scriptures, we see things like Proverbs chapter 13, verse 24. He who spares his rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him promptly.

And maybe you remember, I have a picture of a woodshed up here. Maybe you remember the old saying that, Paul, I need to take my son or daughter out behind the woodshed and administer some discipline. That’s an old saying from years ago, but it has reference to personal discipline. Proverbs 3, verse 12 says, “…whom the Lord loves, He corrects, just as a father the son whom He delights.”

Proverbs 29, verse 15 says, “…the rod and rebuke give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother.” My mother made sure that I wasn’t a child left to himself. She looked after me and she disciplined me appropriately at various times.

I tried to get a picture of a peach tree up here because, you know, we used to have peach switches that mothers would get off the peach tree. But the AI just didn’t want to give me the right image, so I ended up switching to the woodshed. But my mother did love me enough. And of course, there’s a lot of different kinds of discipline. There’s instruction, there’s teaching, and there’s the physical discipline as well that must be administered occasionally. And that’s how we know our mothers love us. If they didn’t care about us, they would just leave us alone and not bother to correct us or anything. And then what would our lives be? That would be a tragedy indeed.

But my mother loved me. I know she did because she disciplined me when I did wrong. My mother loved me because she cared for me when I was sick. And all children get sick. And it’s a very difficult thing, you know, for to have a sick child and to have to bear through that. It’s very difficult.

And there’s prayer, lots of prayer when you have a sick child. And I certainly have said a number of prayers for my own children when they were sick, but my mother loved me. She cared for me when I was sick.

When we think about caring for people who are sick, we see the example of David in Psalm 35 and verses 13 through 14 when he said, “‘But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth. I humbled myself with fasting, and my prayer would return to my own heart. I paced about as though he were my friend or brother. I bowed down heavily as one who mourns for his mother.'”

So David writing this Psalm says, this is how a person ought to behave when someone is sick. And I know my mother loved me because she behaved exactly like David did when I was sick. And I know that you mothers also behave this way when your child is sick. And it’s something to care for a sick child.

Jesus cared for the sick. Matthew chapter 4 and verse 24 says, “…His fame went throughout all Syria, and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics and paralytics, and He healed them.”

Jesus had the miraculous ability to heal people. Mothers don’t have that miraculous ability, but they do have a special ability of motherhood. And that gives them the ability to help their children, whatever situation they might be in. And so our mothers love us when they care for us when we are sick.

And I know my mother loved me because she did that. I know my mother loved me because she fed and clothed me even when I did not cooperate. And you know, children don’t cooperate a lot, and they can even be rebellious at some times within their lives, and it’s hard sometimes to feed and clothe children when they don’t want to be fed, they don’t want to be clothed, they don’t want to eat food that’s good for them, right? Their broccoli and whatever else that they don’t want to eat.

With Charlie, it was just about every single fruit that you can imagine. But anyway, and it was difficult. But you know, mothers bear with that, and they still do what’s good for us, even when we don’t cooperate, even when we are rebellious, and that proves their love for us.

I think about the worthy woman, or the woman of valor, or the virtuous woman of Proverbs chapter 31, verses 19 through 22, which says, She stretches out her hands to the staff, and her hand holds the spindle. She extends her hand to the poor, yet she reaches out her hand to the needy.

She is not afraid of snow for all her household, for all her household is clothed with scarlet. She makes tapestry for herself. Her clothing is fine linen and purple. And in days when clothing had to be made, you know, this was an arduous task. And mothers who were involved in this were involved in great labor.

We have a lot of wonderful devices nowadays that can make clothing a lot better than they used to make it, and that’s a wonderful thing, but this is proof of love when our mothers clothe us and when they feed us, when they care for us and provide for us in all the ways that they do, and a lot of times without thanks, without gratitude, without us telling them the things that we do.

That we really ought to tell them when they do these wonderful things for us. Certainly, we should consider that. That is love. The Bible talks about the love of God in Matthew 5 and verses 44 through 48. When Jesus said, He said, That is, you love completely, fully, generously. That’s how we love, even those who are our enemies. And sometimes children can become a mother’s enemy, unfortunately, but that doesn’t stop a mother’s love.

One who truly loves and cares for her child. Paul wrote this, “…for scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet perhaps for a good man some would even dare to die.” But God demonstrates His own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

And look, let’s face it, when we’re growing up and we get to that age of accountability and we start to sin, Our mothers notice that, and they see that, and they understand what’s going on if they’re Christian mothers, and hopefully they’re going to start teaching us.

I remember one of my first teachable moments when I was in middle school. I’d been baptized the year before and ended up, believe it or not, getting in a fight with another student. But she was not very happy about that at all. And I wasn’t happy about it either. But then when I got home, I found out how unhappy my mother was about that.

But she wrote out a bunch of scriptures and put them down and said, I want you to sit down right here, young man, and read these Bible verses. Yes, ma’am. So I did. And that’s why I know my mother loves me. You know, because she took the time to care for me, even when I didn’t behave correctly.

And then finally, I know my mother loved me because she taught me God’s Word. And perhaps this is the greatest contribution that a mother can make to her child, is to ensure that the child learns and knows God’s Word and understands it, And then is versed in it. And we see, for example, in 2 Timothy 1, verses 3 through 5, that Paul was thankful to God because he remembered the genuine faith that it was in Timothy, and which dwelt first in his grandmother and his mother, Lois and Eunice.

And that’s a tremendous testament to their dedication to God’s Word and their diligence in seeking to teach that Word to Timothy. Such a great example for us today. Do we see that within our lives? We need to. As parents, we need to constantly be putting God’s Word before our children, and whatever circumstances we might be in, our thoughts need to be returning to what God’s Word says and how to act, and my mother certainly did that on a regular basis, and she was very, very kind to me in helping me to understand what God’s Word means.

David reflected upon this in Psalm 22 and verse 10 when he said, in prayer to God, he said, I was cast upon you from birth. Not that David did anything from birth to cast himself upon God, but that was the norm in his household because his mother made it a point of emphasis He says, You know, the things that our mothers do for us are tremendous, and we should be very thankful for them at all times. And I’m very thankful for my good mother. I’m thankful for my wife, who has been a great mother and continues to be a good mother. And I’m thankful for all the good mothers who are here today. And let’s have a word of prayer on behalf of our mothers at this time. Would you bow with me, please?

Heavenly Father, we are so grateful for the opportunity we have to come before You this morning and worship. And as we worship, Father, and as we’ve considered what Your Holy Word has said about what it means to love our children, let us recognize the great love that our mothers have for us. Father, we thank You for all the good mothers that are here today. We’re thankful, Father, also for those mothers who have gone before us and have led the way for us, who are now in glory, and we’re grateful, Father, that they have been faithful to You and stand as wonderful examples to us even now of how we can live our lives so as to be with You.

And Father, we pray that each and every day as we look to You and Your Son, Jesus Christ, to guide us, that we would be thankful for the beautiful blessings that You’ve given us, among which a great blessing are our mothers.

And as we count those blessings, Father, let us count our mothers twice for the good that they do in all of our lives, for the times that we’ve been little, to the times that we’ve grown, to the times when we were rebellious, to the times when we brought them to light.

And Father, we are thankful for each of them. And all the mothers who are here today, we ask a special blessing upon each one. Thank you, Father, for blessing us with mothers. In Jesus’ name. Amen. You know, God’s Word teaches us what we need to do to be faithful to Him. And God is the one who has demonstrated love to us so that we can know what it is when we love one another. This is the love of God, that we love one another.

God has shown us His love and His Son, Jesus Christ, who came to this earth and died on the cross for us, just as we mentioned earlier, that through Him, we can have hope of eternal life. And God calls us today, through the message of the gospel, to come to Jesus in faith and love for the good that He has done us.

And this morning, if you are not a Christian or not a child of God and want to have a relationship with God, we implore you to have that relationship. Learn what it means to be a Christian. Learn what it means to obey God. Learn what it means to live in such a way so as to truly love other people.

You can start that journey this morning through hearing His Word and believing it, repenting of your sins, confessing Jesus as Lord and being baptized for the forgiveness of your sins and thereby begin living faithfully to Him. Begin truly loving other people as our mothers have loved us and as God has exemplified His love to us through His Son, Jesus.

Would you respond to that great call, to that great invitation to become more like God? You can do so right now while together we stand and sing.

End of transcript. Thank you for reading along!