God cries out in anguish in Isaiah 1:1: “Hear, O heavens, give ear, O earth: FOR THE LORD HATH SPOKEN.” What is God’s cry? Verse 2 says: “I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.”God is the ultimate Father. He is the Father of fathers. He is the ultimate Nourisher and Nurturer. He is the One who planned marriage and family and the raising of children. God is in the business of raising families. He gathered a family to Himself when He established the race of Israel. They were His children, and he poured out his heart of love and compassion upon them.
We see God’s nurturing heart as we read Isaiah 64:9, 10: “In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the Angel of his Presence saved them; in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bore them and carried them all the days of old. But they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit.” Read also Isaiah 46:3, 4.
God says again in Isaiah 65:2: “I have spread out my hands all the day unto rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts.”
Have you poured out your heart and nourished and nurtured and yet a child has grown up and rebelled? Dearest mother, if you are facing this pain, I want you to know that God understands the grief and ache in your heart. He understands your burden. He has been through it, and He knows the anguish of your heart.
But God never gives up. And He will help you to keep fighting the forces of evil to win your child back into the kingdom.
Be encouraged today,
Nancy Campbell
“This is my Son” Painting by Elspeth Young (Al Young Studios)