The tendency to self-reliance is common to all people. No matter how dependent we are on others or our environment, we retain the freedom of preference to suit ourselves. It is a jarring realisation when we accept the fact we are powerlessness to change a situation. We value the right to choose, and when that is "taken" from us we can resent it bitterly.
This morning I read of Isaac and Rebekah who for about twenty years of marriage were without children. They wanted to have children but Rebekah was barren. There were no fertility clinics back in those days. But the God who created man and woman was able to heal such an irreversible condition as infertility. Genesis 25:21 says, "Now Isaac pleaded with the LORD for his wife, because she was barren; and the LORD granted his plea, and Rebekah his wife conceived." It occurred to me Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob all had wives who were for a time barren but the LORD remembered them and gave them conception. I recalled to mind my wife and I also had this issue for a time. Our ultimate solution and results were the same as these in scripture.
After the birth of our first son, Laura and I had a plan which I will call the "two year plan." Two years seemed a good amount of space between siblings, and so at the appropriate time we ceased using any method of birth control. Month after month there was no conception. I began to analyse the situation, considering if there was something wrong with me. Surprise turned to frustration, for conception was foolproof before. It was about at the five month mark without conception that I read Genesis 30:22-24: "Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb. 23 And she conceived and bore a son, and said, "God has taken away my reproach." 24 So she called his name Joseph, and said, "The LORD shall add to me another son."
When I read the scripture it struck me: God is the one who shuts and opens the womb. All that time I had grown frustrated, thinking the fruit of the womb was reliant upon me and factors which could be medically explained rather than God. I repented that day and determined I would leave the matter with the LORD. Joy replaced irritation and frustration. Many months passed without a change and though I continued to pray my approach was, "If it happens it happens." I remember clearly when I was working at Balboa Hospital when the truck driver patched through a call from Laura: she was pregnant. I was thrilled and gave God the glory. There is nothing more wonderful than by faith exchanging my inability for God's sufficiency.
God shuts wombs and opens them. He raises up kings and deposes them; He lifts up nations and casts them down. He causes the rain to fall, the fruit to form, and supplies peace, joy, and abundant life for those who trust in Him. Realising we are powerless to change ourselves and others brings us low, but God lifts up those who admit this and trust Him instead. How good God is to hear our prayers and answer them!
This morning I read of Isaac and Rebekah who for about twenty years of marriage were without children. They wanted to have children but Rebekah was barren. There were no fertility clinics back in those days. But the God who created man and woman was able to heal such an irreversible condition as infertility. Genesis 25:21 says, "Now Isaac pleaded with the LORD for his wife, because she was barren; and the LORD granted his plea, and Rebekah his wife conceived." It occurred to me Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob all had wives who were for a time barren but the LORD remembered them and gave them conception. I recalled to mind my wife and I also had this issue for a time. Our ultimate solution and results were the same as these in scripture.
After the birth of our first son, Laura and I had a plan which I will call the "two year plan." Two years seemed a good amount of space between siblings, and so at the appropriate time we ceased using any method of birth control. Month after month there was no conception. I began to analyse the situation, considering if there was something wrong with me. Surprise turned to frustration, for conception was foolproof before. It was about at the five month mark without conception that I read Genesis 30:22-24: "Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb. 23 And she conceived and bore a son, and said, "God has taken away my reproach." 24 So she called his name Joseph, and said, "The LORD shall add to me another son."
When I read the scripture it struck me: God is the one who shuts and opens the womb. All that time I had grown frustrated, thinking the fruit of the womb was reliant upon me and factors which could be medically explained rather than God. I repented that day and determined I would leave the matter with the LORD. Joy replaced irritation and frustration. Many months passed without a change and though I continued to pray my approach was, "If it happens it happens." I remember clearly when I was working at Balboa Hospital when the truck driver patched through a call from Laura: she was pregnant. I was thrilled and gave God the glory. There is nothing more wonderful than by faith exchanging my inability for God's sufficiency.
God shuts wombs and opens them. He raises up kings and deposes them; He lifts up nations and casts them down. He causes the rain to fall, the fruit to form, and supplies peace, joy, and abundant life for those who trust in Him. Realising we are powerless to change ourselves and others brings us low, but God lifts up those who admit this and trust Him instead. How good God is to hear our prayers and answer them!
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