God has brought us into a place of relationship where we have the life and nature capable of enjoying Him. He acts as a father toward us and corrects and disciplines us as His children to the end that we might be partakers of His holiness (Heb. 12:711; 1 Peter 1:17). He also feels for us as a father: “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him” (Psa. 103:1313Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. (Psalm 103:13)). And He comforts as a mother would: “As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you” (Isa. 66:1313As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem. (Isaiah 66:13)).
Bonding
It is in this human relationship we learn in a feeble measure something of our Father’s love to us and of the satisfaction that we derive from our children’s responsive love. What a moment it is when the young father and mother see, for the first time, their own precious child! What a thrilling experience it is when they, for the first time, hold in their arms that little bundle of life — their own flesh and blood! Surges of affection, hitherto unrealized, rise in their hearts. Well did the psalmist say, “Lo, children are a heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is His reward” (Psa. 127:33Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. (Psalm 127:3)).
The young father and mother now have a common object for their affections. There is nothing like the birth of their firstborn to bind their hearts together. Certainly they will love each and all of their later children with the same father- and mother-love, but the advent of the firstborn is what brings them into that relationship and opens up the hitherto dormant fountains of parental affection and gives a sense of parental responsibility. When the mother holds in her arms that darling infant, her own flesh and blood, for the first time, she learns what the affections of a mother are; the father likewise enters into the feelings of a father when he fondly holds his own son or daughter. These blessed affections are of God; it was He who put them in the human breast. To be devoid of them would be a sad lack indeed and would show how much we had imbibed of the spirit of “the last days” when men are “without natural affection.”
Avoiding Parenthood
It is reprehensible when a Christian husband and wife seek to escape or to avoid the responsibilities of parenthood. It would be better to remain unmarried than to seek to thwart a chief purpose of marriage. Such ways may be countenanced in the world, but the child of God is not to look to the world for wisdom or guidance.
God, in His wisdom, may not give children to some couples, but this must be taken as one of His dispensations of love and wisdom, and not be treated with rebellion. There may also be physical troubles that arise that would limit the size of the family, but this is not within our province to discuss. The Word of God says the women that marry are to “bear children, guide the house” (1 Tim. 5:14).
Struggles
We have known some parents who had long and hard struggles financially while bringing up a family, but God was sufficient for it all, and finally the day came when the straitened circumstances were relieved. Then they had the joy and comfort of children who had come to years. How much many a parent would have lacked in their old age in the way of comfort as well as provision if it had not been for the children God gave them in their youth.
We would especially emphasize the privilege and blessing of being parents. It has its problems, difficulties and trials, but who can have the heart of a parent who is not one? Many and varied are the lessons which our Father teaches us in the bringing up of children. It is often one of the most instructive courses in the wilderness schooling of the child of God.
P. Wilson