Trusting God With Your Fertility- Part 2

I left off in Part 1 just having read, "Does the Birth Control Pill Cause Abortions." That night I went home and told Jeromy about everything I had read and showed him the facts about how the Pill works. We made the decision that I would go off the Pill immediately. That was an easy decision for us, but the next question was a little harder, "So what do we use now?"

I researched Natural Family Planning online and decided to order their book. I am not one that is really in tune with her body or knows what is really going on in there. I have never been all that intersted, and the whole charting aspect of NFP didn't really appeal to me. It seemed like alot of work and stress to make SURE I didn't get pregnant. Of course they say that you can also use the method to get pregnant as well, but I didn't really know anyone that used it for that reason.

The same time as all of this was taking place, a co-worker was preparing a Bible study in Genesis and came to work with all sorts of crazy ideas about being fruitful and multiplying and filling the earth. The Bible study started taking on a new direction and was affecting the co-worker's ideas about fertility and allowing God room to be in control of the childbearing aspect of marriage. The Lord was beginning to speak to me as well with all the Scripture that was being discussed and wrestled with. I came home daily with these ideas to talk to Jeromy about. I am going to copy the Bible study below for you to read and post comments about if you want. In Part 3, I will discuss the thought process that God took Jeromy and I through to get us to the point of complete surrender and finally freedom with our family plan.

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT BIRTH CONTROL?

First Scriptural Principle (A basic truth or standard of personal conduct):

• God controls the womb!

1. Jeremiah 1:5, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you.”

2. David speaks clearly of God’s active involvement in creating life; Psalm 139:13, 16, “For you have formed my inward parts; you have woven me in my mother’s womb. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me.”

3. Genesis 29:31, “Now the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, and He opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.”

4. When Rachel then complains to Jacob, “Give me children, or else I die,” Jacob accurately responds, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?” (Genesis 30: 1,2)

5. Ruth 4:13, “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.”

6. Deuteronomy 32:30 tells us plainly, “It is I who put to death and give life.”

Scriptural Principle #2:

• God highly values fruitfulness.

1. Genesis 17:2, the Lord says to Abraham, “I will establish My covenant between Me and you, and I will multiply you exceedingly.”

2. Genesis 17:6, He goes on to say, “I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come forth from you.”

3. When God wanted to bless His people, He promised fruitfulness. He told the Israelites in Leviticus 16:9, “So I will turn toward you and make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will confirm my covenant with you.”

4. In Deuteronomy 7:13, 14, Moses promised the people, “And He will love you and multiply you; He will also bless the fruit of your womb…You shall be blessed above all peoples; there shall be no male or female barren among you or among your cattle.”

5. Not only does God value fruitfulness…He commands it. In Genesis 1:28 the first command ever given to man was, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it.” God’s dealings with Adam are representative of His dealings with all of mankind!

6. Genesis 9: 7, 8 & 9, “And as for you, be fruitful and multiple; bring forth abundantly in the earth and multiply in it.” Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying; “And as for Me, behold, I establish My covenant with you and with your descendants after you.”

• With your descendants (seed) includes all of the human race

• Nowhere is God’s covenant rescinded concerning fruitfulness in regards to children!

7. In our culture today, fruitfulness is viewed as a curse rather than a blessing, are we thinking Scripturally as we PLAN our families, or are we thinking as the world does?

Scriptural Principle #3:

• God says children are a blessing.

1. Psalm 127:3 says, “Behold, children are a gift of the Lord; the fruit of the womb is His reward.”

2. Psalm 127:5 says, “How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.”

3. Psalm 128:3,4 declares, “Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine, with your house, your children like olive plants around your table. Behold, for thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord.”’

4. Do we truly believe what the Lord is saying? Are we acting as if we believe that children are always a blessing from the Lord? Is the Lord truly the Lord of our life in all ways?


Á cry in the wilderness” by Keith Green

• Let’s face it, children are a lot of trouble and a lot of work! They cry, they fight, they mess up the house, they interrupt our sleep, they need tons of assistance, they need patience, forgiveness, and love. Children force us to become more Christ-like if we are going to be successful in raising them up to follow Christ.

Scriptural Principle #4:

• Our bodies are not our own.

1. Romans 12:1 says, “I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”

2. The Apostle Paul continually refers to himself as a “bond servant of Christ Jesus.” A bond servant is a believer who voluntarily takes the position of a slave to Christ and has no rights of his own. He does always and only the will of his Master. For His part, the Lord binds Himself to care for His servant.

The Heart of God portrayed in Scripture is one that embraces life, children, and fruitfulness rather than voluntary barrenness!

I believe we’ve been too cavalier about family planning and leaving God out of our decision making.

In John 10:27 Jesus says, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.”

Proverbs 3:5, 6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”

Colossians 2:8, “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.”