#23. The Good Word Lights Up the Good We Are to Give
The Bible tells us about the good we owe, but it’s not the sort of answer which you find looking up, “motherhood” in a concordance. The more Bible we ingest (read in the spirit of delighted submission, rather than mere academic inquiry), the better we get at dealing well with things outside the Bible. A constant soaking in Scripture helps us respond biblically to things which the Bible doesn’t specify. You won’t find God’s rule for screen time in the Bible, but you will find a whole lot of wisdom and principles which help us trace out what’s good—good which we have a duty to pursue. A wholehearted reading of Scripture helps us interpret the present.
God’s word is the sieve for sorting and organising the endless possibilities. With a Bible open, our instincts sharpen. We get better at knowing what the Lord wants as we see patterns of goodness which he shows across the long story from Genesis to Revelation. We start to notice those patterns of goodness expressed in all of God’s creation. As we come to know him and his priorities for his people throughout the different stages of the Bible’s story, we start to see the norms which are meant to mark God’s people at all times in history, long after the Bible stopped being written. We see goodness, laid out in rich and varied weave. Our imagination grows—our imagination for how our lives are stitched into that fabric. The Bible interprets the world for us, rather than the world interpreting the Bible. With our Bibles open, some burdens of motherhood fall away and new, more holy concerns emerge.
Discerning the good in motherhood is more like going on a bush walk than checking a shopping list. The National Park is vast and undulating, with several different places you could park your car and set off from. There are landmarks you don’t want to miss; features which are good to look for, and others which you accidentally stumble upon. This wild place is alive with possibility and a few dangers. It takes time to get around the whole, and even then, there will be ridges, gullies and caves which you never get to, but maybe someone else has. If you just skirt the edges, you might come away saying it’s not all that it’s cracked up to be. Go deeper, further from the noise of highway traffic, and you might find something special. You need to work out the best way of being where you are and how to get to where you need to go, with the gear you have in your pack. When conditions are dark, we really cannot proceed without the lamp.
In working out godly motherhood, we’re not all starting our hike from the same car park, nor have we got the same gear in our backpack. Godly motherhood is a commitment to taking a million small steps in the work Jesus gives us. We don’t get to prescribe where we’ll end up and what we’ll find along the way. Despite all the differences, the things which are the same for all of us are the fact that God owns the land we’re treading on; he owns us and he’s speaking constantly through his Bible. Our path can only be illuminated by God’s word. On that path, any one of those steps alone does not seem to mean much. Over time, they add up in a certain direction, they move us from one place to another. Good motherhood isn’t in a finished product, but the trajectory we’re on and the manner of walking. We journey in a dense ecosystem, a long trek formed from small steps. Godly motherhood is the accumulation of tiny Bible-guided choices; God-honouring faithfulness, on repeat.
We need constant help finding our way, recognising the good we owe in fluctuating situations and with inconstant materials at hand. More than help knowing, we need help doing—sustenance for the long walk, a refuge when it’s fraught, a longing and delight which lifts our eyes from the gravel, while keeping us from the potholes. The Bible, in its entirety, as it holds together around Jesus, as it is applied to us by the Holy Spirit, is every provision we need. We can’t navigate this wilderness of mothering without it. Nothing else within motherhood will give us the provisions motherhood demands. The following is a reading of Psalm 119. Why don’t you open it up, pull out a pen and have a close read with me?
In Psalm 119 you’ll notice that God’s word is
the light for our feet,
the quickening power,
the guide and restraint,
the goal we are seeking,
the delight along the way,
the thing which keeps our eyes open,
not to be hidden,
the thing which makes us hungry and feeds us,
the preserver,
the teacher,
the strength in sorrow.
God’s word is the place where deceit is exposed,
it’s the safety to hold fast to,
the path to run in,
the thing to trust in,
the trail of freedom,
what our arms reach for,
the occupation of our heart and mind while we journey,
the theme song we hum,
the lodge where we pause.
It’s the cause that rouses us at night, to pray;
the words we trust to teach us good judgment,
the decrees from the God who is good and does everything good;
the words which give meaning to our afflictions,
the promise of unfailing love which heartens us,
the lamp we’re following wholeheartedly,
the focus of our hope when we’re faint;
the commands which are boundless, touching on everything our eyes see and our ears hear,
the law which governs everything and is with us always, more like gravity than legislature;
the law which is sweet honey,
that which teaches us understanding, changing what we love and what we hate;
it’s the word which lights the path when it’s dark,
the inheritance which will outlast the earth we tread on,
the refuge to hide in, shielding us from the dangers;
the statutes to love,
the only thing which is to make us tremble with fear;
that which turns simple people into wise,
what keeps sin from ruling over us.
God’s full and bountiful word is the thing which broadens our understanding, which tunes our hearts. We need God to give us discernment so we can understand what he says (it’s possible to spend a lot of time reading the Bible and still come to the wrong conclusions). The goal is not merely to know more, but to have a wholehearted and reverent submission to the speaker of the words, a submission which leads to treading that well-lit path of obedience. In verse 134, the psalmist wants freedom, not so that he can do what he wants, but so he can run obediently in the paths of God’s goodness, so that he would not sin against God. God’s word brings us, keeps us and sustains us on the paths of godliness.
It’s worth having another read of Psalm 119 (or a dozen!), looking for all the requests the psalmist makes. His pleas can help us learn what we should ask for. Most of our problems with the Bible happen because our desire for the God who speaks is rather anaemic. Using Psalm 119 as training wheels for our own prayers might help us learn to long for God and his word in a new way. As we long for him and his words, we start to long for the goodness his words reveal. God’s Bible shapes us to want the good which used to repel us.
In artcle #24 we’ll look at Jesus’ way of describing the Psalm 119 hike and how that is the foundational good we owe in motherhood.
