Let’s get to the nitty gritty. Did you know that the Bible portrays the female as a suckling mother? Wow, that’s a mind-blowing statement, isn’t it? Have we gotten so far away from truth in our modern and humanistic society that we hardly know what is normal anymore?

In Matthew 19 we read about how the Pharisees came to Jesus to ask him about divorce. He answered them with these words: “Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female . . .”

When Jesus spoke the word “female,” He used the word thelus, a different word than is usually used in the New Testament. It comes from the root word thele meaning “the female breast, a woman with nursing breasts, one who gives suck.” One Greek word study of this Scripture states “glorifying God by reflecting the ‘other wonderful half’ of the divine image.”

In other words, Jesus described the female as a “suckling mother.” This is how God made them in the beginning He reminded them. And God has not yet made a new model! It is the true picture of a woman, created with a womb to nurture life and breasts to nourish life. When we breastfeed, we embrace our womanhood the way God intricately and wondrously designed our bodies.

I know this description can be offensive to some women today. Isn’t it sad that many women have turned away from the way they were created? We see the end result of this in Romans 1:26 where this same Greek word is used: “For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women (thelus) did change the natural use into that which is against nature.”

Even the animal kingdom does not turn away from its natural function to nurse and nourish its young. Lamentations 4:3 says: “Even jackals offer their breasts to nurse their young, but my people have become heartless like ostriches in the desert.”

God wants us to rise into the glory of our femaleness. To embrace our femininity. To be proud of the word mother. To encourage breastfeeding mothers. To be who God created us to be.

To be a suckling mother is not an inferior title, it’s a powerful title. It’s in the image of God. God is called El Shaddai which means “the Breasted One.” It reveals Him as the nurturing, comforting, and protecting God, the One who pours out His love, compassion, and mercy to us. The root word of Shaddai is shad which literally means “the breast.” God is EL Shaddai; we are little shads.

The fulness of this word is the “God who is Enough.” Just as the breast is enough to physically and emotionally minister to our baby’s needs, so God is more than enough to minister to our needs.

The liberals don’t only want to get rid of the word “mother.” They don’t like the word “breastfeeding.” There is now a movement in progressive circles to refer to “breastfeeding” as “chestfeeding.” Have you ever heard of anything so preposterous? Are they scared of the female anatomy?

I will not give in to such ridiculous nonsense. Men have chests and women have breasts. And they were given to us by divine creation. The Bible speaks of the “BLESSINGS of the breasts, and of the womb” (Genesis 49:25). And please notice that the word is not a singular blessing, but plural blessings! God gives multiple blessings to the baby and the mother when during breastfeeding.

It is a beautiful plan. We are blessed beyond measure.

PRAYER:

“Thank you, Father for the amazing and intricate way that You fashioned me. I am not only physically created for a purpose, but my physical anatomy reveals Your character of nurturing and compassion. Please help me to embrace who You created me to be and to be a living realty to my family and to the world of who You are as El Shaddai. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

I am blessed to be a suckling mother.