The NIV 365 Day Devotional
Childless is Not Less
Most couples anticipate children after marriage. Indeed, children are a part of God’s plan for a man and woman united in marriage since God instructed Adam and Eve to “be fruitful and increase in number” (Ge 1:28). Scripture teaches that children are a heritage from the Lord, a reward from God (Ps 127:3– 5). Therefore, it can become very confusing and disconcerting to a married couple when children are not conceived as planned or desired. This was especially true in Bible times.
Barrenness is not merely a personal pain in the Bible. Children were a sign of material blessing (Ps 127:3– 5). They provided caregivers for older family members. Offspring were a sign of spiritual blessing: the “family line” continued because there were family representatives in the land of the living. A person lived on through her descendants. Barrenness, then, carried with it a sense of termination.
Infertility is defined by the medical community as the inability to achieve pregnancy after a year or more of regular sexual relations without contraception or the inability to carry repeated pregnancies to live birth. About 15 percent of all married couples today are infertile. Although there are numerous causes of infertility in women and men, medical advances have made it possible to diagnose and treat many of them. Still, some couples remain childless despite years of treatment. A couple’s decision to manage the timing of conception, pursue fertility measures, or adopt a child is a responsibility they share before God, the Author of life. “Childless” is not “less” if that is God’s perfect will for a couple. Infertile couples have not been abandoned by God.
Couples who face infertility can experience a wide range of emotions. Like Sarai (Ge 11:30), Rachel (Ge 30:1), Hannah (1Sa 1:2), and Elizabeth (Lk 1:36), a childless woman often feels a wide range of emotions: disappointment, helplessness, anger, self-pity, grief, low self-esteem or guilt. Regardless of how infertility impacts the couple, the personal pain is often great. Fellow Christians can help heal this pain by offering encouragement and understanding, by respecting the couple’s efforts to explore their options and by talking freely about infertility when the subject is introduced. Most importantly, the church needs to accept childless couples and encourage them to discover and pursue outlets for ministry.
God does not give children to every couple. God may have other blessings in store for the childless. Though we can only speculate as to their family lives, none of these notable women in the Bible are associated with the bearing of children: Miriam, Esther, Priscilla, Mary and Martha, and Mary Magdalene. Once a woman realizes that the rearing of children is not the only responsibility God assigns to Christian couples, she often finds true joy in embracing her personal assignment from God.
Taken from The NIV Woman’s Study Bible.