Greater than a Mother's Love

From The Way To God, by Dwight L. Moody

“A leading minister in the state of New York once told me of a father who was a very bad character. The mother did all she could to prevent the contamination of the boy; but the influence of the father was stronger, and he led his son into all kinds of sin until the lad became one of the worst of criminals. He committed murder and was put on trial. All through the trial, the widowed mother (for the father had died) sat in the court. When the witnesses testified against the boy, it seemed to hurt the mother much more than the son. When he was found guilty and sentenced to die, everyone else, feeling the justice of the verdict, seemed satisfied at the result. But the mother’s love never faltered. She begged for a reprieve, but that was denied. After the execution she craved for the body, and this also was refused. According to custom, it was buried in the prison yard. A little while afterward the mother herself died, but before she was taken away she expressed a desire to be buried by the side of her boy. She was not ashamed of being known as the mother of a murderer.” (p. 15)

Moody’s Point—“The strongest human love that we know of is a mother’s love . . . Death cannot quench a mother’s love; it is stronger than death.”

Isaiah 49:15-16—Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.

I once heard Beth Moore teach about this Scripture and the concept of us being graven into the hand of God. Have you ever held something so tightly that it left an imprint on your palm? This is how we are engraved on the palm of His hands.

That's a pretty amazing thought.