Why Would You Keep Having Children In Such A Scary World?

After writing an article last week where I compared Obama to Hitler, I was asked an intriguing question:

"If you truly believe our country is going the same direction, why are you having more children?" 

The questioner went on to say that if she believed the future for her children was going to be so awful, the kindest thing she could do is not have any more. In many ways this comment is spot on. I'm no prophet, but excepting Christ's return, our children have a very bleak future ahead of them.

They will grow up in the most godless state their country has ever been in; they will inherit a debt load that will enslave them to the government through astronomical taxes for their entire lives; there will be too few of them to adequately support the health-care of the dying Baby Boomer generation; they will live in a world where the murder of unborn babies and people who have "lost their dignity" is normal while the right to defend and protect their own families will be taken away; they will live in a country that somehow tolerates homosexuality and radical Islam while dismissing anything God's Word says as hate speech.

At first glance, it's easy to understand why one would take action to prevent any of their own children to be born into a society that's "going to hell in a hand-basket."

However, there have been many times in history where God's people had an equally good excuse not to procreate. The persecution of Christians under King Nero, The Protestant Church in France during the 17th and 18th centuries, World War I and II, The Great Depression - these are periods in history where it was much harder to be a Christian compared to the relative freedom we enjoy now.

Take the story of Moses for example. If ever there was a time in history where it could be considered completely irresponsible and irrational to have children, this was it. 400 years of slavery to the Egyptians under some of the cruelest conditions imaginable - who could blame the Israelites if they decided that surely God didn't mean for them to keep bringing children into such a terrible world! "Be fruitful and multiply" must have been meant for periods of peace and prosperity.

Not only did the Israelites obey during their frightful circumstances, but the more they were persecuted and afflicted, the more they multiplied! Pharaoh's attempt to rid himself of the Israelite nation by literally working them into the ground was met with supernatural fertility among the people of God (Exodus 1:12).

To combat the influx in birth rates, Pharaoh ordered the midwives to kill the male children as they were being born to mothers still on their birth stools (Does this ring a bell? Sound anything like the partial birth abortions Obama is in favor of?). Again, God gave His people exceptional labors and deliveries so that the midwives, when asked why they let the male children live, had to explain, "Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are lively and give birth before the midwives come to them (Exodus 1:19)."

We know how the rest of the story goes. Eventually Moses was born to lead God's people out of slavery to the Promised land, flowing with milk and honey. Through times of bondage and affliction, trials and persecution, God faithfully provided and the Israelites continued to multiply. Who are we to assign limits or terms to God's commands just because money is tight, impending judgment is on our country, or the survival of the nuclear family seems impossible?

No matter what circumstance we find ourselves in, we ought to obey God rather than man (Acts 5:29). The second we think, "You've got to use your head. God gave you a brain for a reason," and rely on our own understanding instead of acknowledging God to direct our paths, we dismiss God's unchanging faithfulness, compassionate mercy, and amazing grace for a humanistic, self-absorbed agenda that makes the devil dance.

Satan hates it when God's people multiply! What a sinking feeling it would be to witness the birth of a covenant child into a family who serves the Lord and relies on His saving grace when your mission is to rob God of His glory by destroying His people! Christians have every reason to "be fruitful and multiply" because it is the nature of our God to bless the future generations of righteous parents who diligently teach His ways to their children (Psalm 14:5; Proverbs 20:7; Isaiah 44:1-3).

Neither a balanced budget, nor a heterosexual nation will be able to save the souls of our children. I can't save them, homeschooling can't save them, church can't save them. I'm not worried about bringing babies into our world because the One who has the power to deliver them from eternal death, also has the power to raise up Moseses, Billy Grahams, preachers of righteousness, godly mothers, and Presidents who fear the Lord. I have no reason to doubt His timing, grace, mercy, or faithfulness. The children who are born to us, are born "for such a time as this (Esther 4:14)."