You forgot the God who gave you birth (Deuteronomy 32:18; NIV).
Introduction
On 14.5.25. I committed to using only gender-neutral language when writing about God. Since then, whilst searching for illustrative quotes in multiple versions of the Bible, I have become acutely aware of how easily translators fall into referring to *Yahweh as if S/He were largely, or even solely, masculine. This means I often have to use references which refer to God with male pronouns only, despite all my efforts.
Sadly, such references obscure the truth that Yahweh encapsulates and transcends all that is feminine, as well as all that is masculine. Consider, for a moment, the implications of these words: “Will I, who causes others to give birth, not also give birth myself, says the Lord? Will I, who bestows generation upon others, be barren myself, says the Lord your God?” (Isaiah 66:9; CPDV).
God’s womb
A few days ago, whilst praying, I suddenly saw with great clarity that we come from the oceanic bliss of Yahweh’s womb, where we are wholly one with God, and that we return there after death. Here, the word womb is a metaphor for absolute oneness with God’s Being.
At that moment of insight, a wider and deeper understanding of our human life-cycle fell into place for me. Instantly, I was overwhelmed, overjoyed, comforted and relieved.
Stages in the human life-cycle
Here, in a little more more detail, is what I saw. Each stage is illustrated with a biblical quotation:
- Before conception we are all one with God: “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb” (Jeremiah 1:5; NLT). “Your eyes saw me when I was formless” (Psalm 139:16; CSB).
- God guides our conception and development in our earthly mother’s womb: “You guided my conception and formed me in the womb” (Job 10:10; NLT). “You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb” (Psalm 139:13; NLT).
- God watches over our gestation there: “You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb” (Psalm 139:15; NLT).
- We are born into our earthly exile, with God’s breath forming our soul: “The LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul” (Genesis 2:7; KJV). “He gives breath to everyone, life to everyone who walks the earth” (Isaiah 42:5; NLT).
- We bring nothing else with us: “Naked (without possessions) I came [into this world] from my mother’s womb” (Job 1:21; AMP).
- We experience whatever life brings: “Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows” (John 16:33; NLT).
- Life gives us many opportunities to draw closer to Yahweh, becoming more like Her/Him: “Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him” (Colossians 3:10; NLT).
- When our time comes, we die: “Soon I must go down that road from which I never will return” (Job 16:22; NLT).
- We can take nothing with us except the relationship we have developed with God during our exile: “A person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God” (Luke 12:21; NLT). “Naked I will return” (Job 1:21; AMP).
- Then we return to our former absolute oneness with God, in the paradise of Her/His womb: “The dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:7; NIV).
Feminine/masculine balance
Unless we recognise all the stages of our origin and life-cycle, we can easily forget, or even deny, that Yahweh’s femininity is equal to, and balanced with, Her/His masculinity: “Before the mountains were born, before you gave birth to the earth and the world, from eternity to eternity, you are God” (Psalm 90:2; CSB).
Conclusions
This is what stayed with me from the whole experience:
- We come from oneness with God, in the womb of God, beyond time and space.
- We bring nothing with us except God’s Spirit, which is our soul.
- At death, we can take nothing with us except the relationship we have built up with God during our earthly pilgrimage.
- Our souls (God’s Spirit), return to absolute oneness with God, once more within Her/His womb.
- So, let us celebrate today that God truly is our Mother, as well as our Father, and that “Humankind was created as God’s reflection: in the divine image God created them; female and male, God made them” (Genesis 1:27; TIB).
The Almighty …will bless you with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lies beneath, blessings of the breasts and of the womb (Genesis 49:25; NKJV).
References
The personal name of God, Yahweh, which is revealed to Moses in Exodus 3, is a remarkable combination of both feminine and masculine grammatical endings. The first part of God’s name in Hebrew, “Yah,” is feminine, and the last part, “weh,” is masculine (David Wheeler-Reed, The Conversation).
For a long time I 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 (Isaiah 42:14; NIV).
From the beginning till now the entire creation, as we know, has been groaning in one great act of giving birth (Romans 8:22; TIB).
As a mother consoles a child, so I will console you (Isaiah 66:13; NET).
I pray, kneeling before the Father, from whom every family, whether spiritual or natural, takes its name: Out of his infinite glory, may he give you the power through his Spirit for your hidden self to grow strong, so that Christ may live in your hearts through faith, and then, planted in love and built on love, you will with all the saints have strength to grasp the breadth and the length, the height and the depth; until, knowing the love of Christ, which is beyond all knowledge, you are filled with the utter fullness of God (Ephesians 3:14-19; JB).
