Monday, August 22, 2011

Infertility and the Bible

Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, Hannah, Elizabeth
Just to name a few...

There are many stories of women in the Bible who struggle with infertility and the pain of not having children.

The Bible not only shares the stories of these "barren women" but also offers hope and comfort during these times.

God indeed is the creator of life and the God of comfort and peace!





Here are some of their stories from the Bible and some verses that offer hope to those who may also consider themselves "barren" today.

But more important than finding out about the stories of these women is the possibility of finding our own hope in this journey; to be encouraged in whatever stage of our journey we are at.


Sarah's Story   - The Wife of Abraham

Sarah was married to Abraham. She was unable to conceive,even though she was  married for many years. Eventually she was beyond childbearing years.
Ironically she is married to Abraham who has been promised descendants that will number like the stars in the sky and the sand on a beach. A great promise and yet for Abraham and Sarah, the fulfilment seems beyond all reach.

It is at this point that The Lord comes to Abraham.

"Then the LORD said, I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son. Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him.

11 Abraham and Sarah were already old and well advanced in years, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing.

12 So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought,
After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?

13 Then the LORD said to Abraham, Why did Sarah laugh and say, 'Will I really have a child, now that I am old?'

14 Is anything too hard for the LORD? I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son."

Not long after this Sarah and Abraham's son Isaac is born, one of the great patriarchs of the Jewish people!
Luke 1:37
"For nothing is impossible with God"

What does the story of Sarah teach us?

God is faithful to his promises. He was faithful in fulfilling his promise to Abraham and Sarah. God does not make this exact same promise to each of us but we can learn something else from Sarah's story: God is the giver of life and He can bring about miracles. We do not know what God may be doing in our lives - even when it seems like he is not doing anything at all.
God can surprise us!
Hannah's Story
Hannah is perhaps best known for her struggle with infertility.
The book of 1 Samuel begins with the verses
"1 There was a certain man from Ramathaim, a Zuphite from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. 2 He had two wives; one was called Hannah and the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none." (1 Samuel 1:1-2)

I always reflect on what could be worse than feeling you have disappointed your husband by not being able to get pregnant? To be one of your husbands two wives, always being compared to her and her abundance of children. Not only was her husbands other wife extremely fertile; it was not a healthy relationship...

"6 And because the LORD had closed her womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. 7 This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the LORD, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat. 8 Elkanah her husband would say to her, "Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don't you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don't I mean more to you than ten sons?" (1 Samuel 1:6-8)

Yet one thing I love about the image we have of Hannah in the Bible is of her honesty and of her pouring out her pain and heartbreak to God. Rather than become bitter and turn from God she reaches out to him at her time of need and calls on him to answer her prayer.


"10 In bitterness of soul Hannah wept much and prayed to the LORD. 11 And she made a vow, saying, "O LORD Almighty, if you will only look upon your servant's misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the LORD for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head."
12 As she kept on praying to the LORD, Eli observed her mouth. 13 Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk 14 and said to her, "How long will you keep on getting drunk? Get rid of your wine."
15 "Not so, my lord," Hannah replied, "I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the LORD. 16 Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief."
(1 Samuel 1:10-16)

And God answers her prayer. And this answer is Samuel, who becomes a famous priest of God.

What does the story of Hannah teach us?     

God wants us to turn to him. We don't have to pretend that we are not in pain, but we can give this to God and know that he can answer our prayers.

"In bitterness of soul Hannah wept much and prayed to the LORD."
In Hannah's words - "I am a woman who is deeply troubled... pouring out my soul to the LORD... out of my great anguish and grief." (1 Samuel 1:10-16)

She is not pretending that she is not hurting, not blindly trusting God but really wrestling with the pain of infertility.

I know that I too can take my pain to the creator of the universe and pour out my soul to him.

Psalm 27:14

Wait for the LORD;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the LORD.
We do not walk alone...
Most importantly the Bible tells us that Jesus calls us to himself. We do not walk alone but God himself walks with us in our pain.

Jesus says:
28"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." (Matthew 11:28-30)


One way of doing this is by praying and sharing our pain with Jesus.
Does the Bible have any words for us today?
Often we think that the Bible has nothing to say to us regarding issues such as infertility...

Even worse is the impression we do get: God opens the womb of the barren woman (and our question becomes, "then why not me too!") and the focus on the family that we often receive in Christian churches.

Often infertility can make us feel we just don't fit. Everyone else has kids and as much as we want to fit with these expectations it is beyond our control.

I was reminded recently that one of the prayers we can pray at these times is to call out to God with the frustration and pain that this is not how it was meant to be. This is not how God created the world to be. This is not how parenthood was to start.

And by asking God to change this reality and to heal us, to give us children, is not a selfish request but a calling for God to restore his creation, our world, and to bring all things under Christ and to bring peace to this place, beginning in our life.

God does not offer easy solutions and instant answers to prayer. What we do find in the Bible is words of encouragement. We are reminded of who God is, what he can do, that he does care and that we matter to him.

Below are some verses that I have found comfort in. I hope they are helpful for you too.


Some verses of hope from the Bible

Isaiah 30:18
Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you;
He rises to show you compassion.
For the LORD is a God of justice.
Blessed are all who wait for him!

Deuteronomy 31:8
The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged."

Isaiah 40:26-29,31
26 Lift your eyes and look to the heavens:
Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one,
and calls them each by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,
not one of them is missing.

27 Why do you say, O Jacob,
and complain, O Israel,
"My way is hidden from the LORD;
my cause is disregarded by my God"?

28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.

29 He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.

31 but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

These verses remind me of who God is (creator of all things ) and his character (faithful, compassionate). They remind me I may not always understand why God does or does not do things, but I can know I am not alone; that the God of the universe walks with me, he has not forgotten nor forsaken me and my hope is in him.


New Testament verses

Matthew 6:27
Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

1 John 3:1
How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!

Romans 8:35 & 37
Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Phillipians 3:7-11
7But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ-the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. 10I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

What is it that is important? - Knowing Christ. It can be all too easy to get so caught up with how I am feeling that I forget the joy of knowing Christ - it is easy to lose this focus!

Phillipians 4:4-7
4Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

In a situation where we may feel completely powerless, God offers us an option - we can bring this anxiety, worry and heartache to him in prayer. We are told to present our requests to him.

Colossions 2:6-7
6So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, 7rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

2 Thessalonians 2:16-17
16May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, 17encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.

Ephesians 3:14-21
14For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15from whom his whole family[a] in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge-that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

20Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
What does God want you to hear today?
As I reflect on God and who he is, I have been pondering what he would want to say to me as I struggle with infertility and my unanswered prayers. What might God be saying to me or to you today???
  1. I love you. You are my beloved child. You are mine
  2. You do not walk alone - I am with you always.
  3. I hear your prayers and I cry with you.
  4. Trust in me, know that I too want what is best for you.

Friday, August 12, 2011

It's checkup time!

 I hate going to the doctors.  But I am due for a check up so I broke down and made an appointment. They always check my blood pressure. The last time I went, they told me, “You know, your blood pressure is a little high.” I told them it was high because I knew they were going to take it!
So I told my doctor, “It's your fault.  You walk into the room, and my blood pressure goes up.” We kind of joke back and forth a little. But we know it is a check up. He asks a lot of questions: Are there any lumps? Are there any growths? Are there any things out of the ordinary? It is an exam to determine my physical state.


There is a spiritual exam as well. The Bible says, “Examine yourselves to see if your faith is genuine. Test yourselves. Surely you know that Jesus Christ is among you; if not, you have failed the test of genuine faith” (2 Corinthians 13:5).

 In other words, are you really a Christian? Or are you just pretending? You are really a Christian when you have put your faith in Jesus Christ and Christ alone to save you, and you are trusting in Him and walking with Him. It will show itself in the way that you live. Just like you do spring cleaning to get rid of excesses and organize yourself and your life, we are encouraged in the scriptures to frequently examine ourselves, taking inventory of the motives and desires from which we take action, so that we may find ourselves glorifying God and not anything else. 

Sometimes when people go through hardship, they say that event or tragedy has shaken their life; it has shaken their faith. In fact, they say they have lost their faith. But the faith that can’t be shaken is the faith that has been shaken. If it is genuine faith, then it will stand up to the test.

Friday, August 5, 2011

Are you catnapping or are you alert?

Cats sleep more than any other pet on the planet.  The average cats sleeps away 2/3 to 3/4 of its life. Still, cats have been favorites throughout history even though all they do is asleep.  Four thousand years ago in Egypt, the penalty for killing a cat was death! Some cats were mummified after death, just like the pharaohs, and placed in tombs with saucers of milk.

Even though cats sleep a lot, they only fall into a deep sleep for 3 to 4 hours a day. The rest of the day, cats enjoy catnaps.

A catnap is a state of light sleep. While napping, a cat can still hear the slightest sound and be ready to pounce at a second's notice.  Cats have a third eyelid underneath the regular eyelid and keep it rolled up and out of the way while napping.  He is staying tuned in to the world around him even while sleeping.

Nobody can think about God every second of every day, right?  Ordinary things like work, school, dinner or talking with family- they all require our attention too.

But even when life gets busy, you can still stay tuned to God. You can keep your soul's "third eyelid" open and ready to respond.  Don't let yourself sink into spiritual deep sleep times, when you wouldn't hear God if the earth shook and your name flashed in neon lights.  Instead, be easy to wake up, prepared to give God your full attention.

Stay tuned to God, sensitive to his whispers.

I stay awake through the night, thinking about your promise.  PSALM 119:148

Think about 3 things you will be doing today that will require a lot of thought ( taking a test, playing a sport, reading, cooking, grocery shopping, work). Make it a point to check in with God during those busy activities.