Are children only a result of marriage or are there Someone who open and close the womb?
The past year I have had some interesting conversations with people who knows us well enough to know that we have 8 children. We are looking forward to have even more children since we want all the children the Lord wants to bless us with. In general conversations about our babies, I would comment that I have come to love babies soooo much and don’t know what I will do when the Lord decides my time for having babies is over. The other person, would then usually tell me that they will not have anymore babies. I would often hear that she and her husband had prayed about it and now have peace that the Lord approved that she won’t have anymore babies, most of the time because of some medical condition or financial or other circumstances. She would either have had a tubal ligation or he had a vasectomy or they will practice some kind of contraception.
This is a very interesting concept to me.
Most of the time the people I come into contact with are committed Christians. People who earnestly seek the Lord’s will for their lives. People who want to please the Lord and confess that they trust the Lord and know the Lord and has a personal relationship with Him.. How come the area of babies/children don’t fit into their picture of surrendering their lives to the Lord? What is the motivation behind real committed Christians’ reasoning to believe stopping their own fertility or taking their fertility into their own hands fit into the Lord’s will for their lives?
Another interesting point is: If it is God’s will for them to not have children anymore, why do they need the tubal ligation, vasectomy or whatever contraception? If it is His will, then surely He will not allow pregnancy and they would be ‘safe’ from having more children. Does He really need their intervention?
What lie makes them believe their God isn’t bigger than their medical condition or financial circumstances?
Is it possible that we are hesitant to trust the Lord with our fertility, since we have a wrong believe system about: Where does babies REALLY come from? The wrong believe that babies is only a result of a s*xual act and that God has actually nothing to do with falling pregnant. Do they believe that choosing to have no more children and being conformed to the world in this area of their lives, actually doesn’t matter to God so much, since He is not involved?
Baby CJ
In the Full Quiver, Rick and Jan Hess addresses this issue in answering the question, Where Do Babies Come From?
(Please note: The accent of this excerpt is not on infertility and therefore why do some couples experience infertility, but on contraception and the roll of a couple in contraception.)
There are two ways to answer the question - Where Do Babies Come From? A proponent of what we will call “philosophy A” would say that babies are simply a product of a random meeting of sperm and egg. Those who hold to this also teach that parents are the only thinking, responsible agent behind the conception process. If this is true, it follows that we are the only ones who can and therefore should or must exercise control in conception.
Therefore we have the right to decide we will stop this process of getting pregnant.
Now it’s time to meet “philosophy B”. This concept is different. Really different. So different, in fact, that those in the philosophy A camp cannot fathom why philosophy B people believe what they do - except for one thing - they know it has something to do with the Bible and God.
But what is in the Bible that runs contrary to the random probability theory held so much of our society? Maybe you yourself believe that your own existence began solely at a change uniting of a couple of cells. Then please read on... Let look at some important Biblical passages that talks about conception:
Old Testament Examples:
Eve:
We begin our study of beginnings near the beginning of the book of beginnings - Genesis, chapter four. Verse one provides the perfect starting point, as it records the first birth of a human being. Lets see how new mom Eve answers the question, “Where do babies come from?” When Cain is born she testifies, “I have gotten a manchild with the help of the Lord.”
Baby Heidi-Mari
Eve, who had enjoyed a first-person relationship with God, speaks not as a lettered theologian but as a practicing mother. She fully realizes that God has been necessary for the birth of her son and that Cain’s arrival did not happen without His intervention.
Hagar:
In Genesis 16 we find the angel of the Lord counseling Hagar, Abraham’s exiled servant-wife. In verse 10 it reads: “more-over, the angel of the Lord said to her, ‘I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they shall be too many to count.’ ”
The angel of the Lord, speaking for God, said a very interesting thing. What he did NOT say is even more interesting. He did not tell Hagar, “You will have so many descendants that they shall be too many to count.” He specifically said, “I will greatly multiply your descendants.” God Himself was going to personally multiply these people.
Abraham:
In Genesis 17:20 God promises Abraham, “And I will establish My covenant between Me and you, and I will multiply you exceedingly.”
The wording is again significant. God did NOT say, “You will multiply exceedingly’ but assumed total responsibility for creating Abraham’s descendants - “I will multiply you exceedingly.”
The next passage is in my opinion profound, since it address ‘the womb’, itself.
Abimelech:
Next stop is also in Genesis: chapter 20. We know well the story of an embarrassed Abraham having to tell king Abimelech that his step-sister was also his wife. But have you ever dwelt on verse 17 and 18? They read, “And Abraham prayed to God; and God HEALED Abimelech and his wife and his maids, so that they bore children. For the Lord had closed fast all the wombs of the household of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.”
Here is a direct statement of God’s control in matters of conception. The household of Abimelech was suddenly barren - we do know who was the cause and cure of it.
The following passages also dealt with conception:
Rachel and Leah:
Genesis 29:31 through Genesis 30:24 is one of the most amazing Scripture passages concerning God’s causal relationship to conception. Rather than quote the whole passage, let’s examine it, using the framework of a multi-year football game. The two teams are known by their start players, Leah and Rachel.
During the First Quarter the Lord opens Leah’s womb four times.
After dominating the opening quarter, Leah has no more children, so Rachel takes over on offense in the second quarter. We must point out a very innovative aspect of this game - both teams have the same quarterback - Jacob! Most unusual. Well, Rachel’s demand in the huddle is, “Give me children, or else I die.” Rachel really want to get in the game. She also thinks that on this team the quarterback calls the plays, but Jacob knows full well it is the Coach who does and responds to her, “Am I in place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?”
Now we see an unprecedented move: the first substitution. Rachel benches herself and sends in Bilhah. Also Leah sees the fruitfulness of substitution and sends in Zilpah for herself.
In the Third Quarter Leah is back and has three more children.
In the the Fourth and final Quarter Rachel has a real ‘winner’ in Joseph. The final score is Leah 7, Rachel 2 (the second being Benjamin).
Let’s watch an instant replay of God’s part in the story of Rachel and Leah. Please study carefully the following references (All from the book of Genesis):
- “He opened her womb.” (29:31)
- He has therefore given me this son also.” (29:33)
- Am I in the place of God, who has withheld children form you?” (30:2)
- “God has vindicated me... and has given me a son.” (30:6)
- “And God gave heed to Leah and she conceived.” (30:17)
- “And God gave heed to her and opened her womb.” (30:22)
These inspired examples show, without a doubt, God’s total control over the events of contraception and birth. He “opened’ and He “withheld.”
Baby Josua
But maybe the above examples was only for ‘then’. So let’s look further.
Moses:
The final quote from the Pentateuch comes from the well known blessing/cursing chapter, Deuteronomy 28. In this passage God tells Israel just how good things will be if they will be obedient and just how horrible life will become if they are not. Speaking through Moses, in the eleventh verse God says, “And the Lord will make you abound in prosperity, in the offspring of your body.”
The important word of this verse are “the Lord will”. Is it God who gives offspring?
Ruth:
Let us now look at the beautiful book of Ruth. Ruth 4:13 clearly states, “So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife, and he went in to her. And the Lord ENABLED her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son.
So Obed was born, not as a result of a chance fertilization at the proper time of some month, but because and only because God ‘enabled’ it. By the way, do you think it is both biologically and theologically accurate for each of us to place our own name in the place of “Obed” in the above sentence? But even more profound: This new son may have looked like any other little bundle of Jewish joy, but he was to be King David’s grandpa! Who knows what great place in God’s plans a future little one, which He could give to you or us, might play?
Samuel:
The birth of Samuel is yet another illustration of the reality of who is the actual source of ALL people’s lives. Our interest in the story begins at 1 Samuel 1:6, which says, “Her rival, however, would provoke her bitterly to irritate her, because the Lord had closed her womb.”
God did not say that Hanna was barren because she had a tipped uterus, blocked Fallopian tubes, endometriosis or irregular periods.
Although, trust me in this area, there would sure enough be a diagnoses for her barrenness. Because there is a diagnoses don’t exclude God from the picture!!
The Great Physician proclaims quite matter-of-factly His diagnoses of the cause of the barrenness. He had closed her womb; i.e., He was not giving conception.
But after a visit with Eli the outlook improves tremendously! In 1 Samuel 1:19 we read, “And Elkanah had relations with Hannah his wife, and the Lord remembered her. And it came about in due time, after Hanna had conceived, that she gave birth to a son.”
What do we learn from this? Simply that Elkanah and Hannah had Samuel because God Himself accomplished it, according to His will. But we are not finished with the story!
We know that Samuel was given to the Lord by Hanna, who had wanted a child so desperately. We also know that God rewards His people for giving Him their most treasured possessions. So what was God’s reward to Hannah for “returning” Samuel? 1 Samuel 2:20-21 tells us, “Then Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife and say, ‘May the Lord give you children from this woman in place of the one she dedicated to the Lord.’ And they went to their own home. And the Lord visited Hannah; and she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters.”
The text does not indicate Hannah’s response, but do you think she was disappointed? Here we see a case in which God gave five children and thought it a reward! Ask yourself, how would you feel if God rewarded you with five? A lot of work? Certainly. A lot of blessing? We know it is - once you learn how to capitalize on it!
Baby Danika
Or would you rather use worldly methods and stop the possibility of having five?
David:
Some of you are sitting out there anticipating our next passage Psalm 139. There could not be a more amazing section of Scripture than this which chronicles so wonderfully the Divine beginning of each of our lives. In verses 13 - 16 David says:
For Thou didst form my inward parts;
Thou didst weave me in my mother’s womb.
I will give thanks to Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Thy works,
And my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from Thee,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth.
Thine eyes have seem my unformed substance;
And in Thy book they were all written
The days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them.
Putting aside for the moment the question of whether babies-in-the-abstract come from God, think about where YOU in-the-concrete come from. Psalm 139 tells you that you are not a statistical product, but were begun - ‘formed,’ ‘woven,’ ‘wrought’. Even the number of days you are given on the earth from conception to decomposition has been specifically chosen by God. None of us is an ‘accident’!
Psalm 100:
The teaching of the Old Testament may be summarized by saying that children are not simply the result of a s*xual intercourse and conception, but it denies that conception is inevitable, or that parents possess the power to make it happen. In fact, Psalm 100:3 states the matter with crystal clarity: “It is He who had made us, and not we ourselves.”
Saying that we parents do not possess the ability to ensure conception is actually one of the understatements of all time!
All these Scriptural examples prove that God controls the process of fertilization; that you and I are NOT products of probability, but of His ability. Gad has ordained the specific starting point of every life ever lived, including any future children He might give us or you.
Baby Andrew
Yet, what about the New Testament? Was this only for the Old Testament?
Elizabeth:
Now it’s barren Elizabeth’s turn to be blessed. In Luke 1:24-25 it is written, “And after these days Elizabeth his wife became pregnant; and she kept herself in seclusion for five months, saying, ‘This is the way the Lord has dealt with me in the days, when He looked with favor upon me, to take away my disgrace among men.’ “
There was no question in Elizabeth’s mind as to who should get the credit for her great joy. God had ‘looked with favor’ on her and created John.
Luke, A doctor’s diagnosis:
Dr. Luke submits the medical report for Elizabeth in Chapter 1 verse 58: “And her neighbors and her relatives heard that the Lord had displayed His great mercy toward her; and they were rejoicing with her.”
Luke, for all his medical training and experience, had a far more scientifically accurate concept of origins than most of today’s scientists and doctors, for he understood perfectly that Joh’s life was a direct result of God’s “display of great mercy toward her.”
Hebrews:
The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews held to the same view. In chapter 6 verse 14 he quotes Genesis 22:17 saying, “I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply you.” And in chapter 11 verse 11 he holds up Sarah’s faith in God as the Giver of children to encourage our faith: “By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of live, since she considered Him faithful who had promised.”
It is a joyous fact that God opens and closes the womb! He alone decides when and if anyone will have any (more) children!
Baby David
To come back to my opening statement regarding couples’ belief that choosing to have no more children and being conformed to the world in this area of their lives, actually doesn’t matter to God so much, since He is not involved in conception:
According to the above evidence, God is very much involved! To say the least, He has total control!
Baby Daniel
God is THE ONE who open and close the womb, with a purpose, in due time, to fulfill His Devine plan on this earth!
He is trustworthy with your medical condition, as well as your financial circumstances to surrender your womb!
Are you a Bible-Believing-Christian?
Who do you believe is in control of conception?
Are children only the result of a s*xual act and the probability of a sperm meeting an egg or does God open and close the womb?
You decide... and then act on it.
Baby Michael
This article does not address the issues surrounding infertility, rather the issue of interfering with your natural fertility. If you are struggling with the deep emotional and spiritual issues of infertility, you may already be intimately familiar with the roll God plays in conception and pregnancy. For reasons we may never understand in this life, God, in his unfailing wisdom, may have decided that you are not to have a baby of your own. Although this is very painful, I encourage you to look beyond the barrenness, into the loving eyes of Jesus, who is infinitely bigger than our biggest and deepest pain.
With love
Linnie
