Motherhood in the Story of God Genesis 1-4 1. The value of motherhood in the story of God. Genesis 1:26-28 26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, the whole earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image; he created him in the image of God; he created them male and female. God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.” 1. The value of motherhood in the story of God. Titus 2:4-5 "4 and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled." 2. The struggles of motherhood in the story of God. Genesis 3:14-15 "14 So the Lord God said to the serpent: Because you have done this, you are cursed more than any livestock and more than any wild animal. You will move on your belly and eat dust all the days of your life. 15 I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel." 2. The struggles of motherhood in the story of God. Revelation 12:17 "So the dragon was enraged with the woman and went off to make war with the rest of her seed, who keep the commandments of God and have the witness of Jesus." 2. The struggles of motherhood in the story of God. Genesis 3:16 "He said to the woman: I will intensify your labor pains; you will bear children with painful effort. Your desire will be for your husband, yet he will rule over you." 2. The struggles of motherhood in the story of God. Proverbs 9:13-18 Folly is a rowdy woman; she is gullible and knows nothing. She sits by the doorway of her house, on a seat at the highest point of the city, calling to those who pass by, who go straight ahead on their paths: “Whoever is inexperienced, enter here!” To the one who lacks sense, she says, “Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten secretly is tasty!” But he doesn’t know that the departed spirits are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol. 3. The hope of motherhood in the story of God. Genesis 4:1 "The man was intimate with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain. She said, “I have had a male child with the Lord’s help.”" 3. The hope of motherhood in the story of God. Revelation 17:5 "On her forehead was written a name, a mystery: Babylon the Great, the Mother of Prostitutes and of the Detestable Things of the Earth." Application Questions: - How does the way God views motherhood give you strength? - What are the biggest struggles in your motherhood? - What are you placing your hope in today? - What is threatening to destroy your ability to tell the story of God in your motherhood?