Dearly Known, Dearly Loved

May 10, 2026 homily on Psalm 139:13-19 and Ephesians 1:1-8a by Pastor Galen for the Sixth Sunday of Easter

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you” (Jeremiah 1:5a NIV).

Mother’s Day

Today is Mother’s Day, the day that we honor mothers, as well as women who have been like mothers to us. We are certainly grateful for all the mothers in our church community, as well as all those women of faith who have nurtured and cared for us throughout the years. We are eternally grateful to you for the sacrifices that you’ve made to care for others.

When I think about mothers, I think about all that goes into raising children, and how children’s needs change as they get older. And because children’s needs change, the way that a parent relates to their child changes as well. Infants grow and mature into toddlers, then children, and then teens, and eventually adults. A parent is still a parent no matter how old their child is, but the way parents and children relate to one another changes as children grow older.

Recently a friend of mine from college posted a picture of her young adult son and the

pickup truck that he had just bought with his own money. She said in her post, “How strange it is to be the parent of an adult who can make their own decisions.”

Whether or not you are a parent yourself, you’ve probably watched children whom you knew when they were little grow up and become old enough to make their own choices. And so you can probably imagine that it’s very different being the caregiver of an infant versus being the caregiver of a toddler, teen, or adult.

Children of God

Throughout Scripture, the relationship between God and people is often described as the relationship between a parent and a child. Although we usually think of God as our Father, we’ll see that the Bible also uses motherly imagery to describe God.

If the way that earthly parents relate to their children changes as their children grow, then it makes sense that the way God relates to us changes as our faith grows and matures as well. And so this morning we’re going to look at some of the parental language used to describe God throughout Scripture to see the ways in which our relationship with God might look different at different times of our lives.

Before We Were Born

To start with, we see in the books of Jeremiah and the Psalms that God knew us even before we were born. In the book of Jeremiah, God says, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you” (Jeremiah 1:5a NIV). And the Psalmist says to God in Psalm 139, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb” (Psalm 139:13).

When we hear this language of God knowing us even before we were born, it brings to mind parents cherishing the pictures of their baby’s sonogram, listening for the baby’s heartbeat, and feeling the baby kick. It reminds me of parents who sing or read to their baby while the baby is still in the womb so that the baby can get to know the sound of their parents’ voices. We see in Scripture that God knows us even more intimately than that, since God is the one who formed us and “knit us together” in our mother’s womb. We were deeply known and dearly loved even before we were born.

The Motherly Love of God

In Isaiah 49, God uses the language of a mother caring for an infant to describe God’s care and compassion for us, saying, “Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands” (Isaiah 49:15–16).

The psalmist picks up on this metaphor, describing himself as an infant who has experienced that sort of motherly comfort from God, saying, as the Message paraphrase puts it, “Like a baby content in its mother’s arms, my soul is a baby content” (Psalm 131:2 MSG).

In the book of Isaiah, God promises the Israelites, “As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you; and you will be comforted over Jerusalem” (Isaiah 66:13).

From Caregiver to Teacher

But children do not stay infants forever. Eventually they grow, and it’s time for them to learn to crawl and then walk, and now the parental relationship takes on additional dimensions. In addition to nurturing and feeding, caregivers also take on the role of teacher.

In the book of Hosea, God uses the metaphor of a caregiver teaching a child to walk, saying, “It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms…. I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love. To them I was like one who lifts a little child to the cheek, and I bent down to feed them” (Hosea 11:3–4).

Letting Go

Part of the process of growing older is learning to be independent. For parents and caregivers, it becomes important to let children learn to make their own decisions so that they can experience the impact of their decisions while they are still in the safety of your care, so that they can learn to make wise decisions when they are on their own.

When I think about teaching children to be independent, I’m reminded of when I was teaching my children to ride a bike without training wheels. At first, I would run next to them, holding the bike so that it didn’t tip over while they got the hang of how to balance and work the pedals at the same time. Then eventually I would release some of my grip on the bike, holding it more loosely, and then eventually I would let go for a few seconds at a time, until they started to tip over, at which point I would reach out to help steady the bike again. All the while, I was running next to them, to help catch them if they fell over, but eventually, once they got the hang of it and were less prone to falling over, I would let them go completely on their own, while still watching them from a distance.

This is part of the natural process of raising children — providing nurture and care, support and education, while also slowly letting go and teaching children to be independent and make their own decisions. 

As parents, it can be painful to see children grow up and make decisions that may be harmful to themselves or others. But there comes a point when it is often necessary to let them go and experience the results of their decisions.

Jesus expresses this type of parental care and concern when he weeps over the city of Jerusalem, crying out, “How often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings” (Luke 13:34). Jesus says that he wishes he could gather the people together to protect them from their impending doom, as a mother hen covers her babies with her wings. And yet Jesus knew that in this particular instance if they refused to heed his warnings they would have to learn the hard way.

The “Prodigal God”

Of course, Scripture reassures us that even when we go our own way and make mistakes, as children of God we can always come back home again. The story of the prodigal son demonstrates that God’s love for us is unconditional, and that God is always willing and ready to receive us back again.

In fact, one pastor and theologian, the late Timothy Keller, argued that the word “prodigal” can be applied not just to the son in the parable, but to the father as well.

In his book The Prodigal God, Keller explains the title by pointing out that the word “prodigal” does not mean disobedient or wayward, as is often thought, but rather it means “recklessly wasteful or extravagant.” He argues that, while the son was wasteful and extravagant with his father’s money, the father was, in his own way, reckless with his love, pouring out his love without reservation and embodying a “reckless” type of generosity.

Born Again / Adoption

God’s love for us was so extravagant that God sent Jesus to give his life for us. When we accept that love, that experience is often referred to as being born again or born from above. Some places in the New Testament refer to this process as adoption, as in Ephesians, where the Apostle Paul says, “He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will” (Ephesians 1:5).

Here we again see the eternal love and affection of God depicted as a caregiver whose love is lavish and who embraces a child who is not biologically theirs, yet loved and accepted as their own.

Living as Children of God

In all of this we have barely scratched the surface of what it means to be a child of God, and how our experience of God might change and grow as we mature in faith. We begin with the foundation that we were known and loved by God even before we were aware of God. As we grow in our awareness of God and of who we are, we sometimes begin to test the limits, to exert our independence and go our own way.

Like a loving parent, God gives us the freedom to make our own choices. As we do, we make mistakes and stumble and fall, yet God is always there to comfort us. Eventually we may wander astray and try to go our own way, but even then God’s love and grace are unconditional, and God is always ready and waiting to receive us back again.

When we receive God’s grace and forgiveness, we have the experience of being made new, of being reborn and adopted into the family of God. All throughout, God relates to us as a loving and supportive parent, who treats us with tenderness and compassion, and who disciplines us when necessary, sometimes simply allowing us to feel the impact of our own poor decisions so that we will learn and grow to make better choices.

Resting in God’s Love

Earlier I mentioned my friend from college who posted a picture of her son standing beside the pickup truck that he had bought with his own money. She wrote about how strange it is to be the parent of an adult child who can now make his own decisions.

And yet that is part of what it means to be a good parent. Children are not meant to remain infants forever. Over time they grow, mature, and begin making decisions for themselves. Parents guide and teach and encourage, but eventually we have to let go, trusting that the lessons and values we tried to instill will remain.

Our relationship with God grows in similar ways. God nurtures us, teaches us, comforts us, corrects us, and runs beside us as we grow in faith. 

Part of growing in spiritual maturity is learning to choose what is good and faithful not simply because we are told to, but because our hearts have been shaped by the love and grace of God.

And through every stage of that journey, the one thing that never changes is that we are dearly known and dearly loved by God. May we rest in that love today. May it shape us and comfort and strengthen us. And may we go forth reflecting that same compassion and tenderness to others, as beloved children of God.  

Amen!

Questions for Personal Reflection:

1. Who are some of the people who have nurtured, guided, comforted, or cared for you throughout your life?
2. Which image of God from today’s sermon speaks most deeply to you: creator, mother, teacher, comforter, or welcoming parent? Why?
3. In what ways has your relationship with God changed as you have grown older or matured in faith?
4. Are there times in your life when you have tried to “go your own way”? What did you learn from those experiences?
5. How might remembering that you are “dearly known and dearly loved by God” shape the way you live this week?