“Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.” —Psalm 8:2 (NIV)
“In the lap of the mother, the child learns its first prayers, its first songs of praise, and its first trust in God’s providence” (Abraham Kuyper). Although I did not become a Christian until my first year of college, this was my experience. Hearing the voice of my mother praying, singing songs of praise, speaking basic truths of God’s goodness, and the name of Jesus, laid a foundation of which even today I am unsure if I can truly measure its impact. Motherhood is a divine calling, uniquely entrusted to women by God. As we once again approach Mother’s Day, it is all the more important to affirm and protect this sacred vocation, especially as it faces growing challenges in today’s cultural climate.
The reality that the sacred calling of motherhood has been undermined, devalued, and attacked is undeniable. Some of these attacks are overt frontal assaults, while others are more subtle, operating through the prevailing ideologies of the age. The most direct and tragic expression of this is the attempt to prevent motherhood altogether through the destruction of children in the womb. Even after the Dobbs decision in 2022, which overturned Roe v. Wade, the following year (2023) saw an estimated 1,037,000 abortions performed in the formal healthcare system. The death of these little ones grieves the heart of our Lord. Consider His command in Leviticus 18:21: “You shall not give any of your children to offer them to Molech, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord.” This command still speaks, even though the altar of Molech has been replaced with modern terms like “family planning” and “reproductive health.”
Behind the direct assault lies a deeper ideological battle. The dominant cultural narrative prioritizes individual autonomy over the gift of life. Pregnancy and children are often seen not as divine gifts to be cherished, but an inconvenience or a problem to be solved. Women who embrace the path of motherhood often face a cultural pressure that demeans their vocation as a “lesser” ambition compared to career advancement or personal fulfillment.
This mindset is clearly having an effect. In 2022, one study reported that more than half of women (50.1%) reached the age of 30 without having children. For comparison, only 24% of women born in 1950 had done so. In fact, since 1950 the total birthrate has fallen by 54%. Rather than celebrating the God-given ability of women to nurture life, our culture has increasingly sought to minimize—and even erase—the distinctions between men and women. This is seen most clearly in radical feminism and the distortions of transgender ideology.
As Christians, we recognize that deeper spiritual realities are at play. “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). The opposition to motherhood and the fruit of the womb is not a new phenomenon—it’s part of a long-standing spiritual conflict evident throughout redemptive history:
- Pharaoh’s order to kill Hebrew male infants (Exodus 1:15–22)
- Haman’s plot to destroy the Jews (Esther 3:1–15)
- Athaliah’s attempt to destroy the royal line of Judah (2 Kings 11:1–3; 2 Chronicles 22:10–12)
- Herod’s slaughter of the innocents (Matthew 2:16–18)
This is by no means an exhaustive list. The demonic urge to destroy the fruit of motherhood—particularly as it relates to the Messianic line—is seen throughout Scripture. In Revelation 12:4b–5, John gives us a glimpse behind the curtain:
“And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it. She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne.”
Why does Satan rage so violently against motherhood?
We need to look no further than the opening chapters of Genesis. Man’s purpose, as image bearers of God, is to multiply, take dominion, and glorify Him across the earth. “And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it…’” (Genesis 1:28). Though this mandate was affected by the fall, it was not erased. As Herman Bavinck writes in Reformed Dogmatics (Vol. 2): “The image of God, though marred by sin, is not lost; humanity retains its calling to rule the earth under God’s sovereignty.”
In Genesis 3, we see that God, in His sovereignty, chose to bring redemption into the world through the womb of a mother: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15). This is the first gospel proclamation—God would send a Redeemer, born of a woman, to crush the serpent’s head. Through childbirth, the Messianic line would be established, and God’s image bearers would fill the earth.”
The call to multiply and take dominion is reaffirmed in the Abrahamic Covenant (Genesis 12:1–3), through which all families of the earth would be blessed. It is also reflected in the worshipful language of Psalm 8:
“What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet.” (Psalm 8:4–6)
Both reaffirmations point ultimately to Christ. Jesus is the true seed of Abraham through whom all nations are blessed, and He is the second Adam who has perfectly fulfilled God’s law. He now reigns at the Father’s right hand as all things are being placed under His feet.
When we hold these truths together—that we are called to multiply and take dominion, and that Jesus has redeemed this mandate in the gospel—we begin to see the glory of the calling placed on Christian mothers. We also begin to understand why the enemy sees it as such a threat.
The Christian mother praying over her baby boy, softly singing hymns as she rocks her daughter to sleep, and faithfully teaching the Scriptures is engaging in spiritual warfare that frustrates hell and causes demons to rage. When her work is united with a father who leads his home in family worship, God is glorified. It’s not just about physical reproduction—it’s about laying the foundation for spiritual rebirth through the gospel.
This is especially powerful when you consider the influence of parents on individuals coming to Christ and embracing the gospel. Multiple studies—from Pew Research, Barna, and others—consistently show that at least 70% of believers had at least one Christian parent, with many studies reporting higher numbers. This is why the evil one hates motherhood. It was the means by which God brought the incarnate Son into the world—and it continues to be the means through which His image and glory are spread.
Fathers and mothers have a high calling and responsibility to shape the hearts of their children while they are still moldable. This work cannot be accomplished in human strength alone. It is the Word of God, empowered by the Spirit of God, that brings lasting fruit. Though we know that we are fully dependent upon the Holy Spirit to regenerate the hearts of our children, we can cling to His promises. “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6). Regardless of the stage of motherhood, my prayer is that these precious moms would be encouraged by these promises.
Whether you’re in the exhausting season of sleepless nights and diapers, navigating defiant toddlers or challenging teens, or, like my wife and me, walking the road of parenting adult children—know this: because of the finished work of Christ, your labor in the Lord is not in vain. As Peter proclaimed on the day of Pentecost: “For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself” (Acts 2:39).
Far from being a “lesser” ambition, mothers are a vital instrument in the hand of God—loving, shaping, and nurturing the next generation of the Church. Mothers who may never write a book, attend seminary, speak at a conference, be an international missionary, or host a Christian podcast are nevertheless invaluable to the Church and the kingdom—both in their identity as daughters of God and in their vocation as mothers.
Every time I read Psalm 8, I pause and reflect on the second verse, quoted at the beginning of this article. To be honest it has puzzled me a bit that this chapter about the glory of man as God’s image bearers taking dominion, talks about the weapon of praise from children? But the more I have considered it, I see it should not be surprising at all as it aligns with how we know our God operates… to receive maximal glory! “…God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God” (1 Corinthians 1:27b-29). When God, in His grace and kindness, uses a godly mother to bring the gospel to her children—as He did in the life of Timothy through his mother Eunice (2 Timothy 1:5)—a stronghold is established against the enemy. And when the voices of those little ones begin to praise, they truly do “silence the foe and the avenger.”
