Should I have children? s30e137 Psalm127b

Psalm 127 has something to say about whether you should have children and how many children you should have.

Only God creates life.  We are blessed to be inheritors and stewards of the life He makes in children.

I so admire the courage of young families. They are doing a nobel, God-ordained, God-rewarded, future-enhancing, self-protecting, generationally-supportive, fruit-making activity.

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Transcript

Should I have children? s30e137 Psalm127b

Should I have children? Should I have MORE children? What is the heart of God for the making of families? 

127 A Song of Ascents. Of Solomon. 

1    Unless the Lord builds the house, 

those who build it labor in vain. 

       Unless the Lord watches over the city, 

the watchman stays awake in vain. 

2    It is in vain that you rise up early

and go late to rest, 

       eating the bread of anxious toil; 

for he gives to his beloved sleep. 

3    Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,

the fruit of the womb a reward.

4    Like arrows in the hand of a warrior

are the children of one’s youth.

5    Blessed is the man 

who fills his quiver with them! 

       He shall not be put to shame

when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.

I have never heard someone say, I’m sorry I had children; I’m sorry we made this a priority in our family life. No. Listen to what the psalm declares: BEHOLD: look at this . Observe this. Stand & notice.

CHILDREN are a heritage . That is, I ‘inherit” them

Children are a heritage FROM THE LORD

You cannot make a. child.  You cannot even make a single cell of their 10 trillion cells. Science, for all their almost infinite efforts has NEVER MADE LIFE, that was not derivitave from other life. Let that sink in. This is the sole prerogative of God. It is His alone to make life. 

You did not make ‘em, but you can receive them in inheritance from God . Only God can make a child.

The thing is, He distributes them into families into the ‘ownership’ protection of a mother and father, grandparents, siblings, 

the fruit of the womb a reward.

He doesn’t OWE the planet children. Children are the over and above

Principle here: if you put your hands toward raising a family, you will be rewarded in this family.  Family is supposed to be, a net blessing.

         I know there is family pain, Im sorry if you have experienced it

         There is a fall which God did not prefer; a rebellion that had consequences.

         Families, though subject to the realities of the fall, are part of the beautiful design of creation; Families are part of the blessing.

Children are a product of the giving of eve to adam, the EUREKA, the WOW! When God brought her to Adam. Children are the wonderful result of the magic and and magic moments of marriage.

4    Like arrows in the hand of a warrior

are the children of one’s youth.

5    Blessed is the man 

who fills his quiver with them! 

Here is another blessing of children that young parents don’t have the time or the energy to consider: when you are NOT young parents, when you are OLD, these children are a protection.

         They go from being protected to being protectors of the family

         They go from being protected BY you to being protectors OF YOU

It is a wonder to watch their development as they develop from the posture of being dependent on you to you being dependent on them.

Clearly, these arrows take flight against adversaries, even if one of the adversaries is aging. They also take flight against TIME.  They go into the future.  The arrow of children starts in the one’s YOUTH, but does not stop there.

When you meet your enemy in the gate

Fortified cities had point of vulnerability: the gate. Moving parts; complexity, different construction necessary to give access.  

Metaphor and not metaphor

When you meet your enemy at the gate, when you are at a place of increased vulnerability, perhaps when YOU are being attacked, the children you have raised are now an asset of protection.

They are like arrows that go forth to help you, defend you, defend themselves. The locked arms of the generations is a bond that is stronger than the crossed arms of one generation alone.

In fact, having the “arrows available” is all that is needed to keep the enemies OUTSIDE, and to keep the interaction one of SPEAKING at the gate rather than FIGHTING at the gate.

Having arrows keeps you from having to “go kinetic” in the conflict

Conclusion:

I so admire young families.

I so admire the courage of young families. They are doing a nobel, God-ordained, God-rewarded, future-enhancing, self protecting, generationally enhancing, fruit-making activity.

Families are in a way a militarily reinforcing structure that protects one generation after another.

I envy the blessing of young families. 3  Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, 

the fruit of the womb a reward. 

There is no doubt that for most, the pathway to happiness, and the reward being bestowed by God is; to be most blessed is: to get married; to have a quiver full of children.

Should I have children: generally yes yes yes.

How many children should I have? A quiver full.