A woman ...
“Suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?”
(Luke 15:8 - NIV)
The revelation of God as having feminine qualities may not have been completely new to Jesus listeners. Yet, to hear him use the story of a woman to reveal the heart of the Father must have raised a few eyebrows in the audience – it still does! The parable of which this story forms a part is often referred to as “the parable of lost things”. All bible translations I have seen use a heading similar to – “ The story of the lost coin”. The other two stories in the parable are introduced in a similar manner. Yet these are misleading headings – for the main focus is not lost things – but passionate owners! Each story reveals an aspect of the passionate heart of the Father towards us - His children.
The focus of this story, as in those on either side of it (so it is central in this revelation), is the passion of the Father toward something of great value. But here we find the heart of the Father described in feminine terms. God has feminine qualities - for the feminine is a reflection of his image – not the other way about!
The truth of the matter is that throughout the Bible we discover this aspect of the Father’s nature. In the prophecy of Hosea (11: 1 – 4) God describes himself as – loving his child, one who - taught his child how to walk, leading him by the hand, and as one who – “stooped down to feed him”. These are all feminine qualities.
David, the great king of Israel, in a time of trouble, describing himself in the presence of God said - “ I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me.” (Psalm 131: 2). He also stated – “Though my father and mother forsake me, the LORD will receive me.” (Psalm 27:10) – indicating quite clearly that God was to him all that was contained in both the masculine and feminine aspects and nature of his human parents.
Perhaps, for various reasons, you have never known the true love of a mother or father. You may have been abandoned as a child and hold deep bitterness and hurt in your heart towards you parents. Whatever the case may be, Father God wants to wrap His arms of love around you – to hold you close – to heal your damaged emotions – to be both a father and mother to you. He longs to take you up and be to you what no earthly parent could - this is the true heart of our Father God.
