Who Am I?Sýnishorn

The issue of Infertility is a very personal part of my story, my marriage, and the formation of my family. My wife and I walked through about five years of infertility, thinking and praying through the words we have from God that might point the way through this modern issue.

Consider these clear foundations laid out in Scripture:

• God’s design is that children be conceived in His Image through sexual union between a husband and a wife. That’s clear from the first two chapters of the Bible.
• As we explored yesterday, an unborn child is a human person from the moment of conception.
• Physical children are a blessing from the Lord. That’s language straight from Psalm 127:3.
• Medicine (on the whole) is a gift from God that is morally good. It’s given for the healing of various sicknesses, diseases, and physical problems.
• Infertility is common in the Bible. The list of infertile couples in the Bible is long, from Abram and Sarai at the beginning of the Old Testament, to Elizabeth and Zechariah at the beginning of the New Testament.

So what encouragement do we find in God’s Word amidst Infertility?

Trust in the God who knows the end of your Infertility. Based on Genesis 50:20 and Romans 8:28, we know that we can trust God, who is working all things together for good in the end—even the hard things in this fallen world. Maybe that end is eventually having a child; maybe it’s not.

Worship God and treasure Him above all things, even a baby. God’s Greatest Gift is not a baby; God’s Greatest Gift is Himself. If your ultimate hope is in procreation—having children—then that’s not going to be a sure foundation for your hope. Christ alone is a sure foundation for your hope.

Pray to God humbly, persistently, faithfully, and boldly for children. Pray humbly, trusting God knows and sees far more than you know and see. At the same time, be honest about your hurt, “casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7).

Think wisely and Biblically through the various options available. On some options for addressing Infertility (like adoption or fostering), the Bible speaks clearly. On others (like IVF and surrogacy), the Bible gives us pause to really pray and think through concerns in light of the fact that God is the Giver of Life and He has designed procreation to be the result of sexual union in marriage.

For many of us, these are not just theoretical and imaginary theological considerations; these are personal and deeply emotional considerations. In a world of medical advice and counsel that does not view life the way we do, we desperately need the Bible’s foundation to stand on as we think about the complex issue of Infertility.