Care for Couples Struggling with Infertility
00:00:00.000 | Pastor John, how would you care for a young couple coming to terms with
00:00:10.280 | infertility and feelings of failure? What would you want them to know about God in
00:00:14.640 | light of his apparent withheld blessings? I would want them to know that God is
00:00:22.020 | sovereign, and that Satan does not have the upper hand here, and infertility
00:00:29.880 | does not have the upper hand here. God always has the upper hand because he's
00:00:34.560 | God, and then I would want them to know that God is good. I just read yesterday
00:00:40.280 | Psalm 25, "Good and upright is the Lord," and then I'd want them to know that He's
00:00:46.600 | wise, infinitely wise, and His timing, His giving, and His withholding are all done
00:00:53.680 | in an infinite wisdom as He shapes and guides our lives for our ultimate good
00:01:00.480 | and for the glory of His name. I'd want them to know that God can give life, and
00:01:06.280 | therefore I would pray with that couple. I would covenant with them. I would pray
00:01:09.720 | with them every day. I'd lay my hands on them, and I would ask God, "Give them life.
00:01:14.200 | Give them a child. Lord, whoever's infertile here, work a miracle, O God, if
00:01:20.660 | you would be pleased to do that." I would ask for it, and if God chose
00:01:25.880 | then not to do it, I would remind them, "No good thing does he withhold from
00:01:32.000 | those who walk uprightly." That's probably one of the hardest verses for a mom or a
00:01:36.320 | dad to hear in that situation, "No good thing does he withhold from those who
00:01:40.680 | walk uprightly," which means for whatever reason, this withholding right now is
00:01:46.000 | good. God has something good. Seek the kingdom first, and all that you need will
00:01:53.440 | be added to you. If there's a thorn in your flesh, and this thorn might be
00:01:57.960 | infertility, ask, "God, what are you doing with this thorn?" He's
00:02:04.480 | going to answer, "My grace is sufficient for you. My power is made perfect in
00:02:09.440 | weakness." So I would probably end by taking them, and I go to this text
00:02:16.840 | because I've talked with some women at Bethlehem who have found amazing
00:02:25.360 | comfort in this Isaiah 56, 3-5. It goes like this, "Let not the foreigner who has
00:02:32.160 | joined himself to the Lord say, 'The Lord will surely separate me from his people,'
00:02:37.680 | and let not the eunuch say, 'Behold, I am a dry tree.'" So there's a person who can't
00:02:45.900 | sire children or bear children. "Behold, don't say, 'Behold, I am a dry tree.' For
00:02:55.820 | thus says the Lord, 'To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose the things
00:03:00.760 | that please me, and hold fast my covenant, I will give in my house and within my
00:03:07.080 | walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters. I will give them an
00:03:13.720 | everlasting name that shall not be cut off.'" That's Isaiah 56, 3-5, which I
00:03:20.640 | know is hard to feel and hard to believe, but that's what faith is. Faith takes a
00:03:27.520 | verse like that, "Okay, you have withheld from me my desired son or daughter, and
00:03:34.040 | you're going to give me a monument and a name better than sons and daughters."
00:03:41.000 | That's simply amazing, and I think we ought to hold fast to it. Jesus never
00:03:46.600 | had children, and Paul never had children, and I'm sure they looked at little
00:03:53.120 | children and thought, "Now that's a joy that I would love to have," and God
00:03:59.800 | withheld marriage and child-having from those two men, and gave them instead a
00:04:06.360 | monument and a name, both in this life and in the life to come, that is superior.
00:04:11.720 | Thank you for that biblical reminder, Pastor John, and thank you for listening
00:04:15.040 | to this podcast. Email your Bible questions to us at
00:04:18.280 | askpastorjohn@desiringgod.org. You can find thousands of other free resources
00:04:22.240 | online from John Piper at desiringgod.org. I'm your host Tony Ranke, thanks for
00:04:26.480 | listening.
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