God as Father and Mother

"God as Father and Mother" originally appeared in the May 2025 "Downtown" issue of COMO Magazine.

Featured Story Of Creation God As Parent

What attributes of God do you need right now?

“Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name …”

This is a common line from scripture, one you have probably heard many times throughout your life. It is the beginning of the Lord’s Prayer. I remember memorizing this passage when I was a child. It brought me comfort and a sense of stability about God’s role in my life and the world.

It was so foundational, in fact, that without realizing it, I began most of my prayers with “Dear God” or “Dear Lord,” leaning on God as father.

Through the years I have drawn strength from the images of God as father. He is my protector, my provider. He stands as my shield when I feel vulnerable and attacked. He keeps a roof over my head and provides me with manna from heaven. He leads me beside the still water and restores my soul.

It is less often that I have thought about God as mother.

While I know logically that God transcends gender — that men and women were both created in his image — I have still tended to picture God as male.

In a conversation with a friend who recently lost her mother, she mentioned needing God to fill the void her mother left. She was finding comfort and peace meditating on the more feminine or motherly aspects of God.

She has been drawn to the illustrations of being comforted by God as God comforts his children. Pictures of God lifting infants to his cheek or bending down to feed them. Being gathered by God under his wings like a mama hen gathers her chicks.

With two granddaughters and a new great-nephew in my life, all age 2 or younger, I have had lots of opportunities to watch young mothers model these attributes of God with their babies. It is precious.

The book of Isaiah even uses childbirth metaphors to describe attributes of God.

Isaiah 42:14 says, “For a long time I [God] have kept silent, I have been quiet and held myself back. But now, like a woman in childbirth, I cry out, I gasp and pant.”

And Isaiah 49:15 says, “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has born? Though she may forget, I [God] will not forget you!”

Canadian minister Shiao Chung likes these verses for their compassionate and faithful portrayal of God. “They remind us that God is beyond gender; the gender pronouns are simply metaphors to help us understand God who is always beyond our full understanding.” 

We can describe God using feminine terms, not because God is a woman, but because feminine and maternal traits say something true about God. The same can be said of masculine and paternal images for God.

One of my favorite descriptions of God is as an Ezer. The Hebrew word Ezer means a helper, rescuer, or strong aid. Someone who comes to the rescue when people call for help. When Israel cried out to God in the Old Testament, he was their Ezer. Their protector and rescuer.

Ezer is also the word God uses to describe Eve in Genesis. She is created as Adam’s Ezer, his suitable helper and strong aid.

As we honor and celebrate mothers this month, whether you are a man or woman, I encourage you to reflect on how God ministers to you as a mother.