Biblical Advice For Parenting

Mothering can be really hard some days. It can be physically, mentally, and spiritually exhausting. While I attended a baby shower a few months ago, one of my friends gave a devotional that was not only encouraging but gave me life as a mother. My friend’s devotional is called Biblical Advice for Parenting and I hope this is encouraging to you.

My friend’s name is Kim and she is a homemaker with two children ages 3 and 1. After asking her, she gave me permission to post her devotional on my blog! I am SO EXCITED to share the encouragement and wisdom she shared with you too!

Parenting Wisdom

“Invent your own parenting philosophy.” “Do what YOU think is best for you and your baby.” “Follow your heart.” “Do what feels right to you! That is always the best answer.”

Yes, this is some of the best advice with which a quick internet search on advice to new mothers will present to you. But no, please don’t take this advice too seriously. You are not your best source of wisdom. You cannot rely on yourself for strength. And parenting isn’t as simple as just doing what feels good to you.

If you are in the beginning stages of motherhood, or even if you are a little further along in the journey, I’d like to encourage you today with some Scriptural advice – because the only good advice is that which aligns with the truth of God’s Word.

As moms, we do need help, but we must be careful to whom – or to what – we turn. Rather than searching through the latest, trendiest advice the internet has to offer, let’s instead look inside the pages of Scripture and recognize the help that its words offer to every searching soul.

Lean On God’s Strength

Read the following portion from Scripture, and notice what the Bible’s advice is to those who need help:

“The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him. The Lord is the strength of his people; he is the saving refuge of his anointed. Oh, save your people and bless your heritage! Be their shepherd and carry them forever” (Psalm 28:7-9, ESV).

Biblical parenting advice: Trust in the Lord and lean on Him as your strength. The Bible says we are helped when we trust in the Lord (v. 7). I, as a mother, am helped in my parenting when I trust in God. Who is this God Who is ready to provide us with His gracious help? “The Lord is my strength and my shield… The Lord is the strength of his people.” He is our strength, and He is also declared to be our Shepherd. “Be their shepherd and carry them forever” (v. 9). This phrase translated “Be their shepherd” is translated as “Feed them” in other versions of the Bible. The Hebrew carries the basic meaning of “to tend a flock; to pasture; to graze.”

Another verse of Scripture that uses this same Hebrew word, Isaiah 40:11, says, “He shall feed his flock like a shepherd…” (KJV). The ESV translates this verse as, “He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.”

Something we know about sheep is that they are very needy animals. They are in many ways helpless and utterly dependent upon the Shepherd’s care. How foolish it would be for them to think otherwise. And of course, the Bible compares us to sheep and our Lord as our Shepherd.

What a blessing to know that God our Shepherd cares for us weak, needy mothers and gently leads those of us who have children in a special way! This knowledge can give us the strength we need to in turn tend and shepherd our own children.

Recognize Our Own Weakness

One distinctive about Christianity is that we must not deny our weaknesses, nor should we simply accept them as “just part of who I am.” Rather we must recognize our weaknesses (In some ways we are as needy and helpless as sheep!), then we must turn to the One who gives strength.

All of us probably have some days as mothers in which we feel ready to take on the day – we may feel strong physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. But I imagine there are also many, many days in which we recognize that we are physically, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually weak! That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but how we respond to those moments makes all the difference in the world. Remember Psalm 28:7-9 – the only proper response is turning to the Lord.

Psalm 73:26 says, “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” If there is one thing I have learned from my short experience as a mom, it is that I am not able to do this mom thing in my own strength.

My flesh fails… every day… How about days in which you are dealing with an illness, a headache, recovering from giving birth to a child, dealing with other medical issues, or simply feeling just plain tired?

Whether you are a mom, a grandma, a daughter, or whatever stage of life you are in and whatever your day-to-day might hold, failings of the flesh don’t make life any easier!

And my heart also fails… every day… (In the Bible, the heart basically means the center of the man, the inner man, one’s inner being.) Do you ever experience struggles in your mind and thoughts, emotional pain and turmoil, spiritual weaknesses, or the experience of losing the battle against sin… again… and again… and again?

Our Own Efforts Will Fail

It is a good and noble thing to press on to do our very best as mothers – or whatever God may call us to in life – but if I start to become consumed with my own efforts and successes as a mom, the moment I say or do or even think something less than perfect, well, then it becomes all too easy to focus on my own failings as a mom, and in that to experience feelings of defeat, despondency, depression, and guilt.

You know what that does? It all too often causes my sins and failures to start piling up before my eyes more and more and more… until finally I am brought back to the realization that I should have remembered in the first place: I need to get my eyes off of myself – whether it’s my efforts and successes or my sins and failures – and turn my eyes upon my Lord. My flesh and my heart certainly do fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

We are very weak, failing beings, but God is our strength (literally in the Hebrew, a cliff, that is a rock or boulder; figuratively, a refuge). He is a firm place to stand and a source of strength in the midst of difficulties, challenges, and weaknesses. Our God is our strength.

Victorious Parenting

So in conclusion, I want to encourage you mothers with this parenting advice that I believe is firmly grounded in Scripture (and you can apply this beyond motherhood to all areas of life). I believe it can be summed up in three thoughts:

1. You are weak, but your God is your strength.
2. Allow your difficulties, weaknesses, and sin struggles to turn your eyes off of yourself and onto Christ.
3. Moments of difficulty are opportunities to allow Christ to be seen in your life in ways that would never otherwise be able to happen when all is easy and going well.

As it says in 2 Corinthians 4:11, as Paul discusses the difficulties he faced as an apostle of Christ, “For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake [that is, although technically I’m alive, I am continually dying to self for the sake of Christ], so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh [that is, that Christ may be seen in me]” (explanatory words in brackets by Kim).

God Is Sovereign Over Your Life

Whatever life holds for you as a mother, God will be your strength. Whatever challenges may come, whether in the beginning stages of pregnancy or dealing with adult children, focus on the strength from God that you can only experience because you are weak.

As you care for your children day after day, remember God’s tender care as a Shepherd over you. As you wake for the umpteenth time on a night that doesn’t seem to want to end as your baby once again declares that he is a needy individual, don’t forget that this is an opportunity for Christ to be seen in your life like never before.

And for every lady reading this, remember that God is your strength! When your marital conflicts don’t seem to want to end, God is your strength. When you as a single young woman wait for God to bring along the man of your dreams, God is your strength.

Whatever that struggle may be that is coming to your mind that no one else even knows about, these are all opportunities for God to show Himself strong on your behalf and for you to reflect Christ like you would never otherwise be able to in living a life of ease and pleasure.

“Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us” (Ps. 62:8). And glory be to God that “on the day I called, you answered me; my strength of soul you increased” (Ps. 138:3).

What are some of your favorite passages in the Bible to get you through the hard times of parenting?

Did you enjoy reading this devotional? You might also like these posts and devotionals.
Trusting God With Your Baby
How To Be A Godly Woman
God Wants To Fulfill Us