SO YOU’RE NOT A MOTHER

                                                             SHEPHERD TO SHEEP

SO YOU’RE NOT A MOTHER

(1 Sam 1:2) …Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.

Mother’s Day can be so hard on women who do not have children.  You see, some women want kids but are not able to and other women will choose not to be a mother.  So when this special day comes around it can kind of rub the woman the wrong way and for different reasons.  

Let’s talk first about the woman who is not able to get pregnant.  Well, you just can’t read the Bible without seeing the obvious in its beginning pages.  You see Sarah, Rebekah, and Rachel childless.  Later on you see Hannah and then when you roll over into the New Testament you see Elizabeth right away.  As you read their stories you find the anguish that emerges:  (Gen 30:1) Now when Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister, and said to Jacob, “Give me children, or else I die!”  (1 Sam 1:10) And she (Hannah) was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to the Lord and wept in anguish.  

So what happened to these women?  They eventually had babies and it was from God.  Kind of like what we have seen in the church today when couples come up for prayer who are struggling with infertility.  God has answered prayer and so many “miracle babies” have been dedicated to the Lord.  It was truly a work of the Lord.  Others have had answered prayer through medical help or by adoption.  Whatever way, that couple has received a bundle of blessings from above:  (Psa 121:2) My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.

Other couples have talked together and have decided to not have children.  For whatever reason they just want it to be a two-some and three’s a crowd.  It kind of reminds me of Aquila and Pricilla in the Bible.  They were a couple with no kids that were free do so much ministry and to travel.  Every time they pop up they are doing something for the Lord and for God’s people.  They helped the apostle Paul, were influential in Apollos’ life, and even had a church in their house.  But they sure couldn’t do that with children around!  I remember the few years before Cheryl and I had kids and how were able to jet around for the Lord and do so much.  But when the kids were added the brakes came on!  

But there is a stigma that the couple will have to work through.  Especially when people who don’t mind their own business ask you when you’re going to have kids.  That can be annoying as well as upsetting because some people just don’t get it.  Children are their life and they just can’t believe anyone can be happy without them.  (Rom 14:5)…Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. (1 Cor 7:20) Let each one remain in the same calling in which he was called.

So you’re not a mother?  That can be a good thing or a hurtful thing.  But whatever way it is for you, remember God ordains our life and we have to follow that course and trust His plan.    

Louie