Related Episodes: Waiting in the Shepherd’s Field, Trust and Faithfulness, Patient Endurance, Peace Be Still, Is God Still Faithful in the Valley, Facing the Red Sea, Identity: What You’re Not, Identity: Unveiled, Ebenezer: Marking God’s Victory in my Story

• According to the CDC, approximately 13% of women between 15-44 years of age suffer from issues affecting fertility, ranging from endometriosis, PCOS, to the unknown.
  • I was blown away after polling my Facebook friends, I had never realized how many brave people were facing it and willing to raise their hands. I know that there are many more out there that are afraid to talk about it.
• This episode is dedicated to those people struggling to understand why, feeling “less than,” or having an identity crisis through this journey. You are all important to God, the one who carries you through who made you, who knows you and loves you more than you could ever understand.
• How do I know? Because I’ve had my own journey in the lonely and painful land. For over three years (which I realize is not as long as some of you) I wrestled with all of these issues, including keeping a journal as I dealt with my anger and grief.
  • The words of my journal are not easy to share. They show a lot of the ugly that God needed to deal with (and still does).
  • However, God grabbed my heart and reminded me that He’s got this.
• Infertility is not a subject that is ignored in the Bible:
  • Sarah (wife of Abraham)
    • Genesis 12 God promised Abraham that he would be “the father of many nations” and “extremely fruitful.”
    • There was a waiting period. The promise was not fulfilled until we get to Genesis 21, 25 years later. God does not shy away from letting us know about the wait.
    • Sarah made mistakes during the waiting period, losing hope, and forgetting the promise.
      • But God still kept His promise.
      • God’s faithfulness does NOT depend on ours.
  • Rebekah (wife of Isaac)
    • Genesis 25:21 – Isaac pleaded with the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was unable to have children. The LORD answered Isaac’s prayer, and Rebekah became pregnant with twins.
    • Isaac and Rebekah traveled through 19 years of infertility because they had their sons.
    • Isaac was more patient: he had seen God answer these prayers first hand. He was the answer to one of these prayers.
    • Our God is generous.
      • Isaac pleaded for a child. He got double that.
      • Psalm 23:5 – You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies. You honor me by anointing my head with oil. My cup overflows with blessings.
      • John 3:16 – For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
      • God’s blessings and promises are extravagant.
  • Leah and Rachel (wives of Jacob)
    • This story is interesting because it includes the competitiveness of these women, something we all deal with today.
  • • Genesis 30:1 – When Rachel saw that she wasn’t having any children for Jacob, she became jealous of her sister. She pleaded with Jacob “give me children, or I’ll die!”
      • It seems dramatic, but we’ve all been there, right?
      • Rachel knew the pain of infertility, and the Bible doesn’t shy away from that.
    • When we give in to the lie that our value and worthiness depends on our fertility, it changes our outlook and our choices.
      • In this story, it began a war between sisters, seen in Genesis 30. Between the lines, you can see there was hostility, pride, fighting, and bragging mixed in and fueled by the pain.
      • Rachel gave her maid to Jacob to get sons.
      • Leah did the same when she stopped having children.
      • Despite the competition and tension ruling this house, God was still working.
    • The naming of children is incredibly important in the Old Testament. They were either chosen to commemorate something (like Isaac, based on the laughter of Sarah) or as a declaration of God’s faithfulness like Samuel (see further down).
      • After giving her servant to Jacob, Rachel names the child Napthali. Genesis 30:8- “I have struggled hard with my sister, and I am winning!”
      • God worked in Rachel’s heart and answered her prayers. She named her son. Genesis 30:22-24 “God has removed my disgrace,” she said. And she named him Joseph, for she said “May the LORD add yet another son to my family.”
        • The name Joseph means “he will add.” In the time between Napthali’s birth and the birth of Joseph, Rachel was able to see God’s love and promises, and know that she could declare that He had more in store for her.
    • Tamar (daughter in law of Judah)
      • This marks the 4th generation of infertility in this family. It is definitely not conventional.
      • Genesis 38 gives us this juxtaposition story.
        • Tamar was married to Judah’s oldest son. He died before they had children, so his brother was obligated to give them a son. He refused, prevented her from getting pregnant, and he died as well. Afraid that she was a curse, Judah sent her away.
        • Tamar was forced to take things into her own hand, pretended to be a prostitute, and had relations with Judah.
        • This resulted in her becoming pregnant with twins.
        • This story is told in the middle of the story of Joseph in Egypt. Both Tamar and Joseph did nothing wrong but were blamed and punished for it. Judah and Potiphar’s wife were both inadvertently used by God turning their selfishness into blessing the entire world.
        • God is simultaneously able to give justice AND grace.
          • Psalm 89:14- Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; steadfast love and faithfulness go before you.
          • Hebrews 4:16 – So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God.
          • These are NOT contradicting verses. These are two facets of the character of God- He is both just AND merciful. He makes wrongs right while also being completely gracious.
          • Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of both God’s just making right the wrong of all our sins) and God’s mercy (grace toward us, His beloved creation).
    • Hannah
      • In Samuel 1, Hannah goes to the closest place she can get to God: the temple. She prays so fervently that Eli the priest thinks that she is drunk! In this prayer, she begs God for a son. She doesn’t stop there though, she tells God that she will dedicate her child completely to Him.
      • She names her son Samuel, meaning “God heard.”
      • Samuel became the prophet anointing Saul and David to be the kings of Israel.
    • Manoah’s Wife
      • Judges 13 tells a story about a man named Manoah and his wife. The Angel of the Lord visits her, telling her that she will bear a son and that he is to be set apart.
      • This son was Samson (as in Samson and Delilah), who had the famous strength and hair.
      • Samson ended up killing thousands of Philistines and therefore giving the Israelites a huge victory.
    • The Shunamite Woman
      • 2 Kings 4 tells the story of the Elisha and the Shunamite woman.
      • This woman built on to her and her husband’s house just so Elisha would have a room when he visited their area.
      • When Elisha asked her what he could give her to repay, she didn’t ask for anything.
      • Elisha’s servant realized that she didn’t have a child, so he suggested this as a blessing.
        • She was so afraid of the hope of having a child that she couldn’t even bear the idea of that conversation.
      • She did end up having a son, who ended up dying while still young.
        • She ran straight to Elisha. 2 Kings 4:28 – “Did I ask you for a son, my lord?” she said. “Didn’t I tell you, ‘don’t raise my hopes?'”
        • This woman was often afraid to speak her hopes and desires in fear of the pain that would come. if God did not grant them.
        • Despite her fears to actually voice her hopes, she knew that she could go to the place that God proved to her that He knows her heart and cares about what she holds in it. She knew she could fully trust God to know what she wasn’t able to let go of and that He could do something with that pain.
    • Elizabeth
      • Luke 1 tells us the story of Elizabeth, the wife of Levitical priest Zechariah.
      • Luke 1:6- Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commandments and decrees blamelessly.
      • In the culture of this time of history, physical ailments such and infertility were considered to be a consequence of sin. The above verse proves that this was not the case.
      • Later, when Jesus was healing a blind man, he explains in John 9:3- “neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”
      • Gabriel the angel announced to Zechariah that Elizabeth would give birth to a son and name him John. However, due to their age, Zechariah did not believe and therefore lost his ability to speak.
        • Despite Zechariah’s unbelief, God was still faithful to His promise.
      • When Elizabeth heard the prophecy she said in Luke 1:25 – The Lord has done this for me,” she said. “In these days he has shown his favor and taken my disgrace among the people.”
        • There has to be so much behind this quote. There was so much shame being childless, especially in their higher position as priest and wife. There were likely lots of comments both privately and to her face. We all know how that feels.
    • Mary
      • I realize her story is not exactly infertility, but it is still a story of God’s victory and power over our fertility, no matter how impossible the situation may seem.
• God knows that we live in a fallen world and meets us in that, all while doing whatever it takes to move us toward restoration.
  • In the book Grace Like Scarlett, Adriel discusses her pain of miscarriage. In it she says “I wanted to linger in the romance, believing perfection was within my reach. But seeing the lifeless ultrasound screen was a stark reminder that we still live. in the tensions between now and not yet. Jesus has come but he is still coming. Restoration has drawn near but it’s still approaching. Heaven is at hand but it’s still descending. Every tear will be wiped away but for now, we still have a reason to cry.”
  • I’m not sure where you find yourself in this story. But no matter where you are, INFERTILITY IS NEVER THE END OF THE STORY.
  • In the book Surprised by Motherhood, Lisa-Jo Baker tells a story about a man who randomly came up to her and said “God wants you to know that whether you have children or not, He loves you for you.”
  • Every time I look at these stories of infertility, I see God preparing to show Himself in a big way. And in all of it, He is showing you that He loves you for you.
  • God has proven Himself victorious 100% over these fractures of His original conception of our world.
  • Infertility was NOT the end of the story for Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, Leah, Tamar, Hannah, Monah’s wife, the Shunamite woman, the mother of Samson, Elizabeth, Mary, and it will not be the end of the story for you.
  • I am NOT promising that you will have children. I am NOT promising that if you have children you will suddenly be fulfilled and life will be perfect.
  • What God does promise is Ephesians 3:20-21 – Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations for ever and ever. Amen!
• I know it is hard to wait, that there is pain, doubt, despair, and so many questions.
  • There is so much more. And God absolutely and abundantly holds that “more” for you victoriously in His hands.
  • God has proven that He is faithful over infertility time and time again. Infertility never has and never will be the end of the story.
• Romans 5:3-5 – Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character, and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.