The Hand that Rocks the Cradle

In 1865, William Ross Wallace wrote a poem entitled “What Rules the World.” On four different occasions in that tribute to the institution of motherhood, he famously wrote, “The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world.” Human psychology suggests that the most important time for human development is from birth to age 6. One’s personality and character traits are firmly established in these formative years. As Scripture reveals, Satan’s attack upon the family is calculated in that it forms the basic social structure for a society. From early in biblical history, we read of the enemy’s aggressive attack on women in general and mothers in particular. The fallout of Genesis 3:15 is obvious in our current culture. The lies of sexual promiscuity, the scourge of abortion, the degradation of godly femininity, and the proliferation of abuse against women is a direct attack against those made in the image of God and the redemption which Christ offers. While God can certainly work the miracle of His redemptive grace in the most horrific of situations, many times children will go the way of their upbringing (Proverbs 22:6).

There is no single teaching in all of human history that has redeemed the God-given role of women like that of the gospel. And there is no entity which should work in favor of the important role of women than that of the local church. Unfortunately, much unscriptural teaching has come out of the church that has discouraged women in general and added to their shame and disenfranchisement from inclusion. Below are just a few of these, for which the church must strive to combat.

• In recent years, our culture has been inundated with reports of the improper treatment of women, even in the church. Not only should this never be accepted by God’s people, but we should be a haven for their protection and care. The church should be the safest place to share our hurts and the guilty should not be defended.

• The verbal degradation of females should have no place in the church. The value of women should be of our highest regard in their contribution to society in general and the gospel in particular. There is no biblical basis for the lessening of a woman’s role or value.

• The lie of the perfect woman or the perfect family destroys. Women have been drowned under a tide of unrealistic expectations. The church should be a place of grace for all.

• The church’s righteous stand against abortion should never supplant the offer of mercy to those who have been ravaged by this decision. The victims of abortion are much more numerous than just the unborn child. These women need the church’s offer of God’s grace.

• The silent pain of barrenness and singleness are often most painfully obvious in the church. Our push to honor “the perfect mom” has left all others to seem less than.

• The cultural bias which has infected the church in praising the “working” mom while lessening the role of a stay-at-home mom. Perhaps a biblical understanding of this important role will theologically and practically speak to this confusion.

Perhaps the best place for us to start in our encouragement to the women with which God has graced our lives is in prayer. While not every woman is a mother, each of us has a mother. We have wives, sisters, daughters and females in the church for whom God has given to us the privilege of knowing and serving Christ’s Kingdom alongside. Below are at least five scriptural ways in which any of us could pray for the women God has given to us.

1. Pray that the joy of the Lord will be her strength.—Nehemiah 8:10

Mothers are prone to worry. While their God-given tendency toward caution protects us, anxiety is a sin against which Christ commands and for which He died. Worry is an act of atheistic rebellion against God’s goodness and God’s sovereignty. The enemy has robbed many a woman of her joy in the Lord. Despite the heavy burdens they carry, they need to know that they can rejoice in Christ because of what He says about them. In spite of our sin, in Christ God has forgiven! Women were made for joy!

2. Pray that she will look to the “Maker of Heaven and Earth” to meet her needs.—Psalm 121:2

Females in general and moms in particular are called upon for great tasks. The godly women in my life rarely slow down. Their cup can run dry very quickly. Only Christ can fill that cup.

3. Pray the God would be a shield around her, protecting her against the enemy of her soul.—Psalm 3:3

Believers underestimate the patient endurance of the enemy of our souls. He knows and exploits our weakness. Interestingly, a shield in David’s time was incapable of protecting the entirety of the human body. Yet, God is a shield all around us.

4. Pray that she would delight herself in the Lord, even as the Lord delights Himself in her.—Psalm 37:4; 149:4

Not only are we commanded to delight in the Lord, but we can do so because He already finds great pleasure in fellowshipping with us! This command is really speaking to a daily walk with Jesus Christ, a moment-by-moment abiding in Him. There is not greater delight that knowing Jesus Christ!

5. Pray that God would make the men in her life to be men after God’s own heart.—Acts 13:22

For those married, no relationship is more important than that of the spouse. But even for the single woman, God has placed men in their lives who should seek to provide and protect. Men are to provide and protect for their wives, mothers, daughters, sisters, etc. As we pray this prayer for them, we are praying for ourselves.

Jason