A Prayer about Jesus as a Mother Hen
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you would not! (Luke 13:34)
Dear Jesus, of all the pictures you painted and metaphors you used to help us understand who you are and how you love, I have to admit, “mother hen” never made its way into my top five. And yet as I ponder this image, it profoundly endears you to my heart. It makes me want to know and worship you all the more.
That you chose such a metaphor says much about the depths of your affection and the intensity of your engagement in our lives. It also reveals how fragile, vulnerable, and foolish we are as your chicks.
Jesus, I praise you today for your ongoing commitment to gather me, because I am “prone to wander, Lord, I feel it; prone to leave the God I love.” Keep running after me, Jesus, when I drift naively and when I roam wantonly to places I have no business exploring.
Jesus, I praise you today that like a mother hen, you gather me and place me under your wings, next to your heart. You are such a compassionate, kind, tender Savior. How foolish I am to think otherwise. How foolish I am to think there’s any better place to be than under your “wings,” in the embrace of your grace. Though a nursing mother may even forget her suckling child (Isa. 49:15), you will never forget or forsake one of your chicks. Because the gospel is true and powerful, I am willing to be gathered today. I pray in your gracious name.
Amen.