The Love of God … (May 2023 Update)
Nothing compares to a mother’s love. A mother’s love is amazing. Mothers protect their children from harm, nurse them while they are sick, and provide a loving environment to grow up in. While the role of a father is important (mostly in being an example), a mother’s love is one of the most powerful influences on a child’s life.
Theodore Roosevelt once said, “it is the mother, and the mother only, who is a better citizen than the soldier who fights for his country. The successful mother, the mother who does her part in rearing and training aright the boys and girls who are to be the men and women of the next generation, is of greater use to the community, and occupies, if she would only realize it, a more honorable as well as a more important position than any man in it. The mother is the one supreme asset of the national life. She is more important, by far, than the successful statesman, or businessman, or artist, or scientist.” Certainly nothing compares to a mother’s love – Except the love of God.
Interestingly, when the Bible speaks about God’s love for His people, it is most frequently in terms of a mother’s love. While God is usually called “Father,” the most intimate expressions of His love for His children are in motherly terms. Here are just a few examples: Many passages speak of God giving us birth: “You have forgotten the Rock who bore you and put out of mind the God who gave you birth” (Deut. 32:18). Also in Deuteronomy 32:11-12, we are told that God cares for us like a mother eagle: “Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that flutters over its young, spreading out its wings, catching them, bearing them on its pinions, the Lord alone guided him.” And in Psalm 57:1, the Psalmist tells us that God protects His children by covering us with His wings: “Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, or in you my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of your wings, I will take refuge, until the destroying storms pass by.”
The Bible also speaks about God’s unending love in terms of a mother’s love: “But God’s people say, ‘The Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.’ Can a mother forget the baby she is nursing, and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!” (Isaiah 49:14-15). Even God’s wrath is described in Hosea in motherly terms: “I will fall upon them [disobedient Israel] like a bear robbed of her cubs” (Hosea 13:8). Certainly, the Bible speaks of God as our Father and that appears to be His primary role. But, most often, whenever it speaks of God’s love for His children, motherly examples and metaphors are used.
In Matthew 23:37, Jesus speaks of his love in similar terms. There he compares his love for Jerusalem as that of a mother hen caring for her chicks: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.”
There are a number of things to notice in this passage about the love of God.
First, God’s Love is comforting. “How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings.” The picture of the mother hen gathering her chicks under her wings is a picture of comfort. When the chicks are scared, they run to the comfort of their mother’s wings. Psalm 91:4 says, “He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. There is no better place of comfort and protection than in the love of God. This is why Jude tells us to “keep yourselves in the love of God.”
There is something about a mother’s love that is different from a father’s. When my children would fall down and scrape their knees, I would “lovingly respond,” “Get up. You’ll be fine.” But not mom! Whenever their mother was around, they would get hugs and kisses and comfort! That’s a mother’s love! That’s God’s love for His children. His love is like the love of a mother hen that gathers her chicks under her wings. That’s because God’s love for His children is comforting!
Second, God’s Love is persistent. Notice what Jesus says, “How often I wanted to gather your children together.” How often! Even to a rebellious Israel, Jesus says he was constantly and consistently calling out for Israel to come and be gathered unto him.
In His love, God sends many people and servants to tell us about the gospel and His love. To Israel, he sent numerous prophets to draw them to Himself, but they would not respond. But God never ceased in calling out again and again to Israel. And, in His love, he still does this today. He still sends many people, prophets and servants to faithfully tell people about His love and His free gift of eternal life. He not only sends people, He also sends many providences to wake us up to the need to come to Him. He allows various circumstances to come into our lives to get us to look up to Him. But in spite of God’s persistent love, many still “will not come.”
When I was a pastor in Connecticut, I went to the hospital to visit a man who had a number of severe heart attacks. When I tried to encourage him to give his life to Christ because the next heart attack might be his last, he laughed and said, “Preacher, let me tell you a joke to show how foolish you Christians are.” He proceeded to tell me about a Christian man in a flood. As the flood waters got to his porch steps, a man in a rowboat came along and said, “Hop in, I’ll save you.” The man replied, “No thanks, I’m trusting God to save me.” As the flood waters entered his house, he went to the second story and some rescuers came by in another boat and said, “We’re here to save you.” He replied, “No thanks. I’m just trusting God.” The flood waters continued to rise, and the man was now sitting on the top of his roof. Rescuers in a helicopter dropped down a ladder and said, “Climb on, we’re here to save you.” Again, he replied, “No thanks. I’m trusting God to save me.” Finally, the water covered his head, and he was drowned. When he got to heaven, he went to God to complain: “Why didn’t you save me? I was trusting in you!” God replied, “What do you mean. I sent two boats and a helicopter.” After he finished his laugh, I said, “You’ve had 3 major heart attacks so far and the doctors are saying you won’t survive another. How many boats and helicopters does God need to send you?”
God’s love is persistent. He gives us many opportunities to respond to His offers of love and salvation. He sends his servants to tell about Jesus, and He allows many circumstances (providences) in our lives to wake us up to our need. “How often I wanted to gather your children together.” God’s love is seen in His persistence. But many still will not come.
Third, God’s love is best seen in Jesus. This is something that we often miss when we are listening to this passage. This passage is a powerful reminder that Jesus is not just a man – He is God come in the flesh. He says, “How often I wanted to gather your children together.” He says that Jerusalem has been rejecting his love for generations, killing and stoning the prophets that were sent. And he says, “how often I wanted to gather your children together.” The love he is speaking about in this passage God’s continual love of the nation of Israel – not just his love for them in his incarnation. Who else could say this but God Himself!
Many people want to say that Jesus was a good man or even a great man but not God. But in this passage, he makes a claim that he is eternal. Look at verse 34. He says that He sent many prophets to them, and they killed them:
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’ “Therefore, you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt. Serpents, brood[n] of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell? Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.
Whenever we think about the love of God, we must remember that God’s love is most clearly seen in Jesus. For three and a half years, the people of Israel were blessed to see the love of God incarnate in Jesus. They heard his teachings, saw his miracles and experienced his compassion and love firsthand. And in a few days, they would witness God’s greatest act of love – Jesus dying on the cross to pay for sins. But, in spite of all this, they still would not believe in him. And here his is, nearing his death on the cross, and he is still appealing to come and be gathered unto him. In Jesus, we can see the fulness of God’s great love!
But there is one final aspect of God’s love in this passage. God’s Love is patient – but not forever. Whenever I think of a mother’s love, I think of patience. There may be exceptions, but as a father, I struggle with patience, especially toward small children. For example, when you are playing with them, they want to do the same thing over and over again. It wears me out. But most mothers seem to exude patience when it comes to working with small children.
God’s love is also seen in His patience toward us. There are so many passages that speak about God’s patient love. For example, in Numbers 14:18, we are reminded that “the Lord is patient and slow to anger.” 2 Peter 3:9 says, “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.” God’s love is indeed patient – but not forever!
But listen carefully to what Jesus is saying: “How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!” God’s Love allows us to reject Him. Jesus puts it plainly – He was willing to gather them, but they were not willing. Jesus said the same thing in John 5:39-40: “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.” The problem is not with God’s love – it is with our unwillingness. “But you were not willing!”
God’s Love is patient, but it will not last forever. In verses 36 and 37, Jesus gives Israel a warning: “Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation…. See! Your house is left to you desolate.” In Luke 19:41-44, we see a more detailed picture of Jesus’ love for Jerusalem. There Jesus weeps over the city:
Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”
God’s love for Israel was patient – but not forever. Just a few years after the death and resurrection, Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans (70 AD) and the people of Israel were scattered throughout the earth. God was patient with Israel. But not forever. God’s love is comforting, persistent, and patient, just like a mother’s love. But not forever. Matthew 23 reminds us of God’s great love, but also of man’s great responsibility to respond to God’s love. That’s why Jesus depicts God’s love is like that of a mother hen gathering her chicks under her wings, calling us to come. But not forever. That’s why the Bible says, “today is the day of salvation. Behold, now is the appointed time.” God’s love is comforting, persistent, and patient. But not forever.
But this passage also holds out a great hope for all who will come. In verse 39, Jesus says, “for I say to you, you shall see Me no more until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’” Where is this blessedness to be found? Not in us but only in the Lord. In John 1:11-12, John tells us: “He came to His own, but His own did not receive Him. But to as many as received Him, He gave to them the right to become children of God, to all who believe in His name.” That’s the great love of God!
Teaching Ministry …
For the next two months (May and June), I will be teaching a class in Research and Critical Thinking at Kyiv Theological Seminary. I have been teaching this class along with Natalia Tereshchenko since 2010 and it has always been one of the most appreciated classes that we teach. It shows students, not only how to research and write, but it also teaches them how to organize for sermons, Bible studies and all other types of communication. We think it is one of the most important classes for preparing students for ministry. Pray for us as we teach this class these next two months. Pray that it will help our students be better communicators of the Word of Life!
Also, I have been preaching at a nursing home in Fayetteville and I am really enjoying ministering the Word to these people. After preaching one Sunday, a lady came and told me that she told her daughter about me preaching there and her daughter said she knew me. Her daughter and granddaughter had come to Connecticut to help us with some outreach back in the early 80s! Also, I have been able to preach at least once a month in churches in the North Little Rock area. It has been a real blessing to be able to minister through preaching at various churches. Finally, we are also looking forward to helping some missionaries get prepared to go on the field. God has put us in a special place where we are being able to share with and minister to other missionaries. I have also had some opportunities to meet with some pastors and some missionary candidates to help them in their ministry to missionaries.
Family Update …
This month, I am especially proud of my children. And especially of how my girls grew up to be such wonderful mothers! This month, Joy Drews and her triplet daughters (Hailey, Aimee, and Meredith) will all graduate. Last week, Joy graduated from nursing school and completed her BA in Nursing! Not only that, but she was asked to be one of the speakers at her graduation. Next weekend, all three of her triplet miracle babies will be graduating from High School. Many of you will remember, when Joy was pregnant with the triplets, she developed some very serious complications. Her doctors (all Christians) told her that if she continued the pregnancy, the three babies could not survive, and she would lose her kidneys. They told her that while they would never normally recommend an abortion, they thought it was the only option. She prayed about it and decided to continue the pregnancy. All three were born at about 6 months and had to stay in the NICU for 2-3 months before they could even come home. Next week, they will be graduating High School!
We continue to make progress on our home, but the going is slower than we expected due to a rainy spring. We now have our slabs and plumbing done and the walls are almost completed. In a couple weeks, we should have a roof on the house. It looks like we will need to find some place to live at the end of the summer. It will be hard to get everything ready by then. Our back up plan right now is to rent or borrow (anyone have one that we could use?) a camper to stay in for 2-3 months while we finish the interior. Here in NW Arkansas, the fall is mild enough that we stay in the camper until sometime in November. Also, we should have electricity and septic in the house before the end of the summer so we would mainly be sleeping in the camper. It still might be possible to get into the house before the end of August, but we know that is really pushing it.
In the pictures, you can see we are building a very unusual house. The construction is ICF or Insulated Concrete Forms. It saves money and construction time but most of all it will provide us with a house that will be 50-60% more energy efficient than a regular wood framed house. Also, it allows us to do a lot of the work ourselves. It has been very tiring, but we think the house will be a blessing to us and to many others. In building this house, we included a couple of factors. First, we want a place to be able to have Katya’s mother living with us. Second, we needed a place where we can have visiting missionaries stay with us during training events or short trips to the states. Finally, we want a home where we can host a home Bible study. We still have a few months to go, but we are getting excited about completing the house in the fall.
Our biggest need right now is to sell our house in Ukraine. Please be praying with us about this need. This is a very difficult time to sell in Ukraine and we have been told that we will be lucky to get 50% of its value. We know we are losing $60-100K that we could get for our house and furnishings. But right now, we really need the money to continue building. So we need to sell it, if possible, by June. Our neighbors have been helping out, packing up things and helping us give away items in the house. It has been a joy to be able give many of the items in our house to Ukrainian friends who would never be able to afford some of the things.
Our girls are wrapping up school from this year. They have completed almost all their subject and will finish next week. They have read so many great books, including Old Yeller, Around the World in 80 Days, The Adventures of Doctor Doolittle, Through the Looking Glass, all the Little House books, and many, many more. They have also fallen in love with the old Lost in Space series, especially the robot and Dr. Smith! They even call each other “ninnies” and often say, “my dear child.” They had a wedding with all their toys and get to play with Haven and Harlie regularly. The big event last month was the girls getting their hair cut. It was the first time for them to have a haircut!
Thank you for your prayers and support for us. My plans are to continue teaching in Ukraine (mostly online) for at least another year. And then we will re-evaluate what God is calling us to do. We have opportunities to help with mission agencies in training and providing pastoral care for missionaries. We are most interested in helping with one group that sends missionaries to closed countries. Right now, I am too busy with teaching classes to do much more, but we think I might be able to consider helping with these ministries in January 2024. Pray that we will have wisdom and know what God is calling us to do. Also, our finances have been good so far, but things are much more expensive here than in Ukraine. Pray that our support levels will continue for at least the coming year.
Pray for Ukraine …
In general, things are improving in Ukraine. But things are still not good. Russia regularly sends missiles and drones to destroy civilian apartments. In fact, Ukrainian air defenses have gotten so good that they usually shoot down most of the missiles that Russia sends. In fact, during the last raid on Kyiv, the air defenses shot down 100% of the incoming drones and missiles! But Russia has recently changed their tactics to counter this. Since Kyiv and other major cities now have air defense systems that routinely shoot down 70% of the drones and missiles, Russia has started shifting their attacks to villages and small cities that have no air defenses. Please pray for the people of Ukraine.
Also, Ukraine is planning a major counter offensive soon. Russian forces are exhausted and undersupplied and lack motivation to fight. Ukrainian forces are fresh, motivated and well-supplied. Putin continues to say they will continue the fight even though they are losing thousands of soldiers and weapons systems. Pray for the success of this counterattack so that more of Ukraine can be liberated from Russia. But also pray that Russia will not escalate the war by using tactical nuclear weapons. Many analysts are saying that the only way for Russia to stop the Ukrainian offensive is to begin to deploy some tactical nukes. Pray this will not happen. Also, please pray for the people of Russia. They do not know what is really happening. Pray that they will rise up against the current regime in Russia and establish a peaceful democracy.
Finally, pray for the gospel to continue to go forth in these difficult times. Pray for our friends who are ministering to refugees as well as those serving as chaplains. Pray for their protection and also for their ministries.
We are grateful for the love of God which has been given to us freely and abundantly! Titus 3:4-7 reminds us: “when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.” May you know and live in His wonderful this month!
By His Grace,
Jim, Katya, Kristina and Nadia
If you missed previous updates or just want to read some short theological reflections, you can find these at our website at https://teachingresources.org/ .
Also, some have asked about how to support us. You can send checks to Teaching Resources International, PO Box 1025, Cabot, AR 72023 or pay through PayPal on our website. Just put “#1000 Ehrhard” in the memo so our treasurer knows where to allocate the funds. If you want to help with our relocation fund or building efforts, put Relocation in the memo.
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