Are you trying to give more than you have? We
are looking at a picture of God this month as we look at different Biblical animal metaphors that describe who God is. We began with the eagle. God helps us face honestly the truth about ourselves. Last week, we looked at God as a
lion. God gives us the courage that is needed for life. But today, the metaphor is about the question – are you loved and cared for enough for the ways you are using your life?
I see a lot of parents who are trying to raise children and are giving more than they have to give. A tragic example is the guy upstate this week who had been baby sitting and killed the baby when it wouldn’t stop crying. The judge convicted him the other day and the guy was stunned, led out of court screaming, God will judge you to the judge.
I don’t think that young man ever intended to kill that baby. I don’t think he woke up the morning of that crime expecting to do evil by nightfall. I think he got somebody pregnant before they had the personal emotional resources to deal with a baby.
Sometimes people get into church jobs for the wrong reason. They feel they have a duty, even though they are behind in their bills at home, trying to juggle two jobs and raise a child. There is a narrow gap between sacrifice and craziness.
The point is that all of us have times when we are giving more than our inner resources have to give. And how do we deal with those moments? And if they are more than moments, how do we deal with life?
The good news is that God has an answer. You are not the first person to get caught short in emotional energy. Get ready for some comfort from the Scriptures today so that you have enough to give.
The scripture today is where Jesus pictures himself as a mother hen, ready to offer comfort to people in trouble. When you approach a hen and her chicks, she gathers them under her wings for protection. There are also warning sqawks and direct attack with beak and claws. The image of a bird protecting her chicks happens 8 times in the Bible, as in Deut. 32:11; Psalms 17:8, 36:7, 91:4. Six of those times happen before Jesus said the words we read today.
And the hen was a picture of the Ira Sankey hymn, song leader for the DL Moody crusades. Under His wings I am safely abiding. Tho' the night deepens and tempests are wild, Still I can trust him; I know he will keep me. He has redeemed me and I am His Child. Under His wings, under his wings, who from his love can sever? Under his wings my soul shall abide, Safely abide forever.
A Bible principle is that we have to be loved in order to love. To turn into an adult who is ready to serve God, you need to be raised ideally in an atmosphere of love. Ideally you need two parents and an extended family saying to you again and again, you are the greatest kid in the world and I love you. And you need neighbors, a church, and a school that are saying the same thing. With all those people affirming you for 21 years, you just might have the emotional capacity to offer the love of God throughout your life.
For the rest of us, we need the mothering love of God to continue for our whole lives so that we have something to give. What a tragedy that we do not emphasize these verses more in our Christian walk. There is an instinct to look at the fatherly male role of God when God is truly neither male nor female. And here are 8 instances of the female nurturing capacity of God to give you in life the resources that you need to be a parent, a partner, a friend, a student, a citizen, and a witness.
[1 John 4:19] We love because God first loved us. Here is the principle. The love of God has to happen to you before you can be the love of God to anyone else. And this loving has to keep happening. We are like a cup of water. We need to be full before we can offer a drink. Even worse, none of us had two perfect parents, a perfect school, and perfect church so we have a hole in the bottom of the cup, so we need to get constant refills of water to be the people we are meant to be.
I hope that you have had an experience of peace with God. Sometimes people have never asked God for a sense of inner peace. I know from my own personal experience and work with others that you can have this gift by simply asking God. That is a critical requirement for the emotional wealth you need to have to offer others. If you feel no peace with God, then I invite you to the altar in a few moments, because it is yours for the asking.
And then the disciplines of prayer each day, meditation, and worship are times when God is filling our lives. If you don’t attend church regularly, I can’t understand why. How can you keep going with happiness and emotional strength if you are not getting refilled yourself?
We have seasons in life. There are times when things are going well and we give cheerfully of ourselves. And there are times when we need to set ourselves aside to receive instead of to give. With money, the Bible says, the Lord loveth a cheerful giver. But actually, that is true of all giving. Giving can only come from what we have, not what we would like to have.
The prayer garden is going to be an experiment for us. The labyrinth and the path are to slow down busy people enough so that our hearts can receive from God. I like to be busy. I already imagine myself going out there and feeling guilty for just enjoying God. But I am determined to fight this. I hope on Sundays, there are going to be people out there after church, not just to chat with each other, but to sit and walk and pray and receive from the Lord.
There is a song that I hope you have heard in the service today and on every Sunday. I believe it is one of the chief reasons for going to church – to hear the song. I hope it is heard in every Christian church. Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so. May you experience the nurturing love of God.
