Children: a Blessing or a Curse
It is interesting that if a child were to become deathly ill, any normal parent, no matter what their income, would give all that they had in order to see their child get well. Yet many of these same parents would give you a limit to the number of children they would like to have. I can't help but wonder - are children a blessing or a curse?
Rather than get the latest opinion poll on this question, why not consult our standard the Word of God. We could list many testimonies from Bible personalities to show that they believed children were a blessing from God (e.g. Genesis 33:5). Yet the clearest and loudest testimony can be found in the familiar Psalm 127: Children are the heritage of the LORD, the fruit of the womb is His reward, happy is the man who has his quiver full of them. We can say dogmatically that God considers children to be a blessing and not a curse. Notice also, that according to Scripture, a full quiver is better than an empty or even partially full quiver.
So, how many children make a full quiver? This can only be determined by God, for it is not in our power to conceive a child without His blessing (Genesis 1:28). In other words, God is in control of the womb. When Rachel complained to Jacob about being barren he said, "Am I in God's stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb?" The Patriarchs knew that God is the One who opens and closes the womb. It is very important that we grasp this truth: you cannot have more children than God wants to bless you with. Job had exactly seven more sons and three more daughters giving him precisely twice the number of sons and daughters he began with, fitting perfectly with God's blessing him with double of everything he originally had.
Why is it then that the attitude of most Christians is so contrary to the Word of God?
Unbelief Many believers simply lack the faith it takes to trust God to give them the number of children they need. They think that without birth control they will have too many children or that they will have them too close together. Have you ever noticed that many missionary families tend to have lots of children? Perhaps this is because most missionaries have had to learn to trust God in so many areas of their life, and therefore they have less difficulty trusting Him with the number of children in their quiver.
Selfishness. There is no doubt that children are expensive, they require a lot of time and work to raise them, and often parents must make certain sacrifices for their children. Some believers would simply rather spend their time and money on themselves.
What a shame. If only they could realize how great a blessing children are, and the tremendous investment they can be. Truly they are as "arrows are in the hand of a mighty man". I have never seen this more clearly illustrated than in the Nichols family, missionaries to Brazil. Bro. Nichols involves all of his children in his ministry and they are a real blessing everywhere they go. His older children are even soul winners, multiplying his effectiveness in the work.
Laziness. Some believers are too lazy to properly nurture and train their children.
Some do not take their children with them outside the home and so they never learn how to behave in public. They end up with children that no one else wants to be around-including the parents. If this is you, don't blame God because you have turned his blessing into a curse.
As a final comment, those who choose to have an abortion obviously see children as a curse. How can we as Christians turn these people from choosing abortion when so many believers by their actions show that they, too, think children are a curse? In their eyes, what is the difference between preventing children with birth control and terminating children before they are born? It produces the same result and is derived from a similar attitude. It seems to me that the salt has really lost its savor in this area! Let's get our hearts right in this matter - children are a blessing from God.
Greg Allgood (father of five)
GregSuzi@gte.net