In reading in Luke about Zephariah and Elizabeth, I’ve been directed to other times when women in the Bible have been barren. Judges 13 tells of Manoah’s wife who is barren. Then an angel of the Lord appears and tells her that she will give birth to a son, Samson. 1 Samuel 1 gives a beautiful picture of how Hannah was barren, yet her husband loved her and she loved the Lord. After prayer and petition, she conceives a son, Samuel. Genesis 18 tells the story of Sarah and Abraham. They were old and barren, yet the Lord told them they would produce not only a son but that they would have as many children as there are stars in the sky (as the father of those who have faith in God). The mother of John the Baptist, Samson, and Samuel, and Isaac were all barren.
To so many women, baring children is a rite of passage, something they must do in their lifetime. When women struggle with infertility or miscarriages, it’s easy to either assume that there’s something wrong with them or that God doesn’t love them as much as God loves other women. We see in these examples from the Bible that it is simply not true. Even when we know that God’s love is not conditional like our love, we can still assume that the inability to have children is somehow a curse from God. Yet these four very important men of the Bible were all born of barren women.
Another illustration from Luke regarding the difficult plight of some women is found in Anna, a prophetess. She had been widowed for the majority of her adult life. She was married for seven years before her husband passed away. Then she was a widow until she died – we read about her in Luke when she is eighty-four years old. She dedicated her life to the Lord, worshiping, fasting and praying night and day. It is to this woman that God revealed the truth of who baby Jesus was. And she gave thanks to God and told others about the redemption of Jerusalem.
It’s not healthy, or good theology, to measure God’s love by what we foresee as blessings or curses. Job was loved by God yet lost all that he had. Our eternal destiny is not determined by our lives while here on earth. Our eternal destiny is determined by God’s love and grace and our faith in Jesus Christ. That is why we rejoice in God – that He is who He is and for no other reason. Despite our blessings or curses (or what appear to be curses) God is everlasting. His promises endure. He is in control.
Be still and know that I am God.Psalm 46:10
No matter our circumstances – infertile, losses, separation from family or friends, our failures and challenges – our eternity is the same. Satan may shake up your earthly existence, but he can’t do a thing about your eternal destiny…or his.
Spoiler alert – God wins.
No comments:
Post a Comment