The Fruit of the Womb Is A Reward

424 - Today's Prime Time Devo comes from: 2Sa 3:1-5, “Now there was a long war between the house of Saul and the house of David. But David grew stronger and stronger, and the house of Saul grew weaker and weaker. 2 Sons were born to David in Hebron: His firstborn was Amnon by Ahinoam the Jezreelitess; 3 his second, Chileab, by Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite; the third, Absalom the son of Maacah, the daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur; 4 the fourth, Adonijah the son of Haggith; the fifth, Shephatiah the son of Abital; 5 and the sixth, Ithream, by David's wife Eglah. These were born to David in Hebron.” (2 Sam 3:1-5) Notice the link here between David's house growing stronger and the birth of all these sons. There is an undeniable link between children and strength in the Old Testament, where children were considered a blessing from God. Ps 127:3-5, says, “ Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, The fruit of the womb is a reward. 4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one's youth. 5 Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them; They shall not be ashamed, But shall speak with their enemies in the gate.” Do you see the link? The man with many children speaks from a position of strength with his enemies. 'Well, that's Old Testament stuff, it doesn't apply anymore.” But it does. A nation needs a replacement rate of 2.1 children to allow for economic security, and many nations are just now slowly waking up to that fact, including the United States which has a birth-rate below this minimum figure. This connection between children and security is further borne out in Ps 8:2 Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have ordained strength, (the word strength means security) Further, God's declaration that children (plural) are a reward and a blessing from Him, has not changed and never will, and that in itself should tell us something. He states in Mal 2:15, that one of the reasons for holy matrimony is to produce godly offspring. “But did He not make them one, Having a remnant of the Spirit? And why one? He seeks godly offspring.” This is a topic that married couples and prospective spouses need to prayerfully explore, remembering that marriage is not so much about pleasing self, it's more about pleasing God.

Child-Bearing: A Picture of Evangelism

# 576 - Today's Du-votional comes from: Mr 10:13,14 “Then they brought little children to Him, that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked those who brought them. But when Jesus saw it, He was greatly displeased and said to them, "Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God.”

I want to go back to Mal 2:15a again today and look at one of the main purposes of marriage. “ “But did He not make them one, Having a remnant of the Spirit? And why one? He seeks godly offspring.”

Again we see the reality of the unity of making two, one. Why does God do this? Well, according to this passage, it's because He seeks godly offspring through the union of a believing man and his believing wife. This producing of children, pictures what God expects from the marriage of His Son to the church as well.

He expects us to produce godly offspring for Him through evangelism and baptism.

But with the embracing of birth control in the church today, we aren’t doing a real good job of painting this picture for others to see, and I think our evangelism efforts have suffered as we have gradually adapted to man-controlled programs to evangelize and determine the size of our church families rather than relying on God working through us, using love and the seed of His Word to grow His family.

Father, help us to see that there is so much more to marriage than what we have settled for.

Birth Control

# 575 - Today's Du-votional comes from: Mr 10:13,14 “Then they brought little children to Him, that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked those who brought them. But when Jesus saw it, He was greatly displeased and said to them, "Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God.”

How fitting that the Holy Spirit turns from the subject of the permanence of marriage to the subject of children. One of the highest purposes of marriage is to produce godly offspring:

In addition to God's command to Adam and Eve to “be fruitful and multiply,” in Genesis 1:28, we read in Mal 2:15a, “ But did He not make them one, Having a remnant of the Spirit? And why one? He seeks godly offspring.”

But look what happened, when we “strayed from the old paths.” Until the 1930's, the idea of birth control was not condoned in the church, but once it became accepted, virtually all churches embraced it. (with the exception of the Roman Catholic church)

What's going on? God calls children an inheritance received from Him and a reward! (Ps 127:3 Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, The fruit of the womb is a reward.”) Yet we treat them like they are a curse, and it's “thank You Lord, for desiring to give us an inheritance and a reward, but we'll decide how much of a reward and when we will receive it.” Does that sound a little pompous to you?

I wonder what it sounds like to Him?

Father, we struggle so much with believing Your promises. We pick and choose what we will believe and we miss out on the blessings You intend to give us. Forgive us and help us to be more trusting.