If you are reading this article, it is likely that you stand with God in defense of the unborn. You hate the slaughter of little ones in the womb, and desire that the nation would return to loving children as we once did.
Directing a pro-life ministry for over ten years, I discovered that there is one point where many pro-lifers have been unduly influenced by the world. It is a point that one would think is so obvious that every pro-lifer would agree on it: when we say that we love children, born and unborn, we ought to mean it, right?
However, the world mocks and scorns large families and has found a multitude of reasons for having few or no children at all, and many in the pro-life community appear to agree.
God Himself states in Psalm 127:3-5a
“Behold, children are a heritage of the LORD, the fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one’s youth. Happy is the man who has a quiver full of them.”
God calls children a heritage and a blessing, but many pro-lifers, while declaring their affection for little ones, determine to set strict limits on the number of children they bring into the world. Children are seen not as a gift and a blessing from God, but as part of a family’s “portfolio” of assets.
We want a good job, a nice home, decent cars, an interesting vacation each year, and two children. Even spiritual leaders are at times swept up into this error. I actually had a pastor scold me once for suggesting couples ought to bring God into their choices in this matter! Apparently, he, and many others, see this choice as being as simple as buying milk or a tool.
No need to consult God in the matter!
Please do not get me wrong. Only God can inform your decision regarding the number of children you should have. He should and does have an interest in the size of your family. The question for each of us is whether we value what God values. Do we see children as a blessing or a burden? Do we see them as enriching our lives or detracting from them?
This Psalm notes that the man with a “quiver full” is a blest man, and a full quiver at that time was twelve to fifteen arrows! In reality, there is no evidence that God intends that every couple have a dozen children. The point is simply that godly people love children and welcome them into their homes. There are circumstances that dictate how many children a family wisely has, but the criteria ought not be that of a distain for God’s little ones!
We say it about so many other things in life: As Creator, God knows best what we need and what will bring the most joy and blessing into our lives, but we listen to the world lecturing us that children cost too much, or they hinder our ability to enjoy things like traveling, nice homes, freedom, and so on.
We hear the constant litany of environmental risks posed by each person on the planet and conclude that we can satisfy our desire for freedom and be a “responsible” world citizen at the same time. We hear the epitaphs spewed against anyone who has more than two children and we choose to go along rather than consider God’s word on the subject.
The world is virtually never right, and they are certainly not right in this. Even the most casual perusal of God’s word tells us something different. At the very beginning God told Adam and Eve to “be fruitful and multiply,” and He repeated this basic command to Noah’s descendants following the Flood.
Through all the biblical narrative, being childless was considered a curse from God! When Hannah wept at the Tabernacle over being barren in I Samuel 1, Eli, the priest, did not tell her to be content, but rather encouraged her, stating that God would grant her petition for a son!
Are we ignoring the fact that the world values wealth, possessions, personal “freedom,” and popularity over human lives? How can we acquiesce to their priorities? Are we now guilty of the same materialism that infects the world? Have we forgotten that every soul conceived is an eternal being, and that while we cannot bring our “stuff” with us when we die, we can bring our children, at least those who have been born again, to Heaven when they leave this earth?
One cannot put a price tag on a human life, yet we too often trade our birthright, that of bearing children, for a mess of the world’s pottage.
I expect that those who desperately desire to have children but have been prevented from bearing them by God’s sovereign will, can only look with wonder at those who could have children but choose not to do so.
Regarding the so-called environmental issues and the perennial “over population concerns” that some raise, God knows very well how many people the earth can sustain, and He has given no indication that His bounty will run out ahead of time. They are truly fools who think they understand such things better than God does.
Children are a tremendous joy and blessing; and in those cases where they are unpleasant to be around, one can generally lay the blame at the feet of parents who did not value them enough to instill in them godliness, discipline and character.
I suppose the list is unending of those who fretted that they would not be good parents, that they would not love their children as they ought, that they could not afford to feed all those mouths, and so on, but who found their fears were unfounded; and the joys of parenting eclipsed their concerns once they began their families.
One’s heritage is likely one of the most important things to many people, and thus, when God states that children are His heritage for us, we ought to take note. Children provide more for us than we can ever imagine, and they truly make us richer than any material possessions ever could.
We need not have a large family to be so blessed, but those who have the mind of Christ in this are willing to accept the little ones that God chooses to send their way!
