Let my start off by saying that I don’t have kids. I don’t really
want kids. I’m a 29 year old, unwed virgin. I have one niece and six
nephews. I don’t need kids. But this post isn’t really about kids.
Most people have what we have come to call “aha! moments”. Those
moments of great inspiration or revelation where something finally
clicks. The lightbulb goes off and you feel as though the whole world
should feel as you do. I had one of those moments today and this is me
sharing it with the world hoping I’m not the only one to feel this way.
I think that I can safely assume that, if you are reading this, you
are aware of the mechanics how children come about. But let’s start at
the beginning and all the while, I’ll put this into the context of what I
really want to say:
It all starts of with a wedding (hopefully). There’s a groom and
there’s a bride. In the context of Christianity, there’s Jesus, the
groom, and the Church, the bride. Revelation 19:17 (ESV) says, “Let us
rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb
has come, and his Bride has made herself ready…”. There’s a wedding, and
we’re a part of it.
If a woman wants to get pregnant, she knows that there are times when
she can’t get pregnant and times when she can get pregnant. The bride
has to be fertile in order to conceive. Ezekiel 17:5 (ESV) tells us,
“Then he took of the seed of the land and planted it in fertile soil.”
There is a right time and a wrong time to conceive. A time when a woman
is fertile and a time when she is not. We, as Christians, are the same.
If we truly wish to be impregnated with the things of God, it has to be
at the right time. We need to be that fertile soil.
If the time is right and all things are going well, the groom will
romance his bride. Isn’t that how God always is? He is always wooing His
bride. This is no stale marriage. God wants us. We are always
attractive to Him. He will chase after us. If we respond to God’s
romancing, intimacy will follow. A bride cannot conceive without first
sharing intimacies with the groom. You CANNOT expect to conceive the
great things of God if you are not intimate with Him first. Like the
idea of conceiving without first having sex, it is an impossibility.
There was only one immaculate conception. It happened once and it will
not happen again. There may be times when you don’t feel like it, but if
I understand marriage correctly, when things are done right, you won’t
regret a minute of it. God won’t let you down if you want to get close
to Him.
So you get married (you accept Christ as Lord and Saviour of your
life), you wait for the right time and your husband (Jesus) starts to
romance you, He woos you. He wants you. Like any new bride, you accept
His advances and you get intimate with Him. You let Him into your world.
You let Him into your life and He doesn’t let you down. It’s worth
every moment. Every second. James 4:8 (Message) tells us, “Say a quiet
yes to God and he’ll be there in no time.” A new bride has only to
breathe and her groom will come a-runnin’.
And then, one day, you feel different. You sense a change. Something
has happened and you can’t really explain it. It starts to grow and you
begin to understand the changes that are taking place. You’ve conceived.
A vision has been planted in your heart and you know, because Jesus is
the ever-faithful bridegroom, that it’s from Him. Now what?
Once you find out your pregnant, you take extra steps to ensure you
stay that way. You take care of yourself to nuture this new life growing
inside of you. What was began as a part of you and a part of Someone
else begins to take on a life of it’s own. But you can’t just leave it
at that. There is a gestational period. A time of waiting. A time of
wondering. But the whole time you wait in anticipation and expectation.
If you fail to take care of that seed that’s been planted, you may
miscarry. You may even decide it’s not what you wanted after and and
abort. Neither of these were ever a part of the plan. God intends for
every seed He plants to grow and bear fruit.
Let’s say you make it through the pregnancy. Before you know it, it’s
time to give birth. What was a joyous time of wonder and awe has now
become the daunting idea of labour and delivery. All this time you know
that what’s been growing on the inside of you is a wonderful gift from
God. This amazing, miraculous thing was created because the time was
right, the groom wooed you and you responded. You were intimate.
But now you’re scared because it’s starting to get a little bit
uncomfortable. There’s a bit of pain. And, as things progress, the
discomfort gets worse. You wonder if you’re able to bear it.
“Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing
move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because
you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” (1 Corinthians
15:58 ESV) Here is where many Christians lose it. They can’t stand the
pain. There are no drugs to ease the discomfort. They back down and
never give birth to the life that God began within them. It’s too hard.
It’s too uncomfortable. The promise never comes to fruition because they
trusted God only enough to be wooed and romanced by Him, but not enough
to get through the difficulty of the labour. They walk away fully
believing that God was unfaithful when, in reality, they were the
cheaters. They were the unfaithful. They left God standing in the
delivery room waiting for a promise that will never be fulfilled because
they couldn’t trust Him enough to believe He’d really come through on
His word to never leave. Hebrews 13:5 says, “…for He [God] Himself has
said, I will not in any way fail you norgive you up nor leave you
without support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree
leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you] down (relax My hold on
you)! [Assuredly not!]“.
I’ve said all that to say this: God does not subscribe to the North
American ideas on marriage. He does things right. In order to conceive,
you must be His bride (John 14:6 “Jesus answered, “I am the way and the
truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”). God
will chase after you like a husband after a wife. He will never be
unfaithful. (Psalm 146:6 “… he remains faithful forever.”) If you are
truly intimate with God, He will plant a vision in your heart and cause
it to grow, but you must also be faithful to nuture it. And lastly, if
you want to see that vision come to fruition, you may have to experience
some labour pains. Things might get uncomfortable. It might hurt for a
while. But, in the end, when that vision is finally birthed and brought
into reality, the hardship you went through to get to that point will
fade away in the light of the glory of God.
Profoundly powerful!! What a great word picture of His intimate relationship with us! And it's true, He does woo us; Hosea 2:19-23 is an excellent example of His constant pursuit of our wayward hearts. Once we come to know Him, He causes us to realize that we too need to hold His heart, and He gives the ability to do so :)
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