Children Are A Reward From God, Not A Punishment Nor A Curse

³ Children are a heritage from the Lord,
offspring a reward from him.
⁴ Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
are children born in one’s youth.
⁵ Blessed is the man
whose quiver is full of them.
They will not be put to shame
when they contend with their opponents in court.

Helpful Heritage

God gives us children as a heritage.  While culture preaches from its bully pulpit that children are a curse and must be eliminated as masses of cells before they destroy the lives of the women who bear them, God sees them in an entirely different way.  “Back in the day”, when people still relied upon God for their very sustenance through working the land, it was a blessing to have ten to twenty children in the family.  The family farm would provide all of the food and resources needed to sustain the family, and as the children came of age, they could work the farm and contribute to the family.  This taught them selflessness, love, hard work, and the ability to work in conjunction with others towards a common goal.

Righteous parenting will not eliminate the bad apples of the group.  After all, God did give us all free will, and even the most loving and caring parents will encounter a child who refuses to embrace their love and the truth of God.  These children abandon rational thought in the pursuit of selfish pleasure and “freedom” from what they perceive as the “punitive restrictions” God requires of those who seek righteousness.  The good news is, none of them are immune from the answers given by God in response to the prayers of their righteous parents.  Yet most of the children in that era grew up to be great people, and sought the welfare of their families, their communities, their countries, and most importantly, their God.

If abortion is to be embraced, and God is to be abandoned, then we have doomed our race to extinction.  For if abortion is higher and mightier than God, in a generation or two or three, there would be no more humans.  And while some might consider the human race to be a curse upon this Earth, they are only half right – it is the curse of sin that Adam brought upon us that infects and affects each and every one of us.  And it is for this reason that Jesus Christ came down to Earth as a man, to be an example for us, and to die for our sins upon the cross at Calvary so that we could be redeemed from the bondage of sin and free to choose to serve God rather than Satan.

Real Reward

For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb. (Emphasis added)

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground. (Emphasis added)

See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven. (Emphasis added)

Train up a child in the way he should go;
even when he is old he will not depart from it. (Emphasis added)

Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. (Emphasis added)

Culture teaches us that children are a burden, and that they are an obstacle to our path to:

• Our enlightenment,
• Our enjoyment of life
• Our success
• Our freedom
• Our lives
• Our careers
• Our happiness

Because we have become a people who are self-centered, narcissistic, self-focused, self-absorbed, and self-conscious, we believe culture and abandon that which God has said in His holy word.  Children are a reward, not a curse.  Every child has a purpose that God has specifically given to them:

¹⁴ What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? ¹⁵ If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, ¹⁶ and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? ¹⁷ So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead…²⁶ For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. –  James 2:14-17,26

⁸ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰ For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. – Ephesians 2:8-10

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.” – John 14:12

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” – Jeremiah 29:11

God has planned in advance, before the foundation of the universe, the works that He has assigned to each and every one of them.  When we view children as burdens rather than rewards, that attitude will infect their souls.  So we should not be surprised when little Johnny turns out later in life to be a drug addict pimping women in dark street corners when he grows up, hearing throughout his childhood how he kept his parents from achieving their goals.

Children are God’s reward to parents.  They are to be a blessing, cherished in every way, raised in the Lord according to their own individual gifts, talents, and tendencies that God has placed in their lives.  We do them and ourselves a disservice when we try to make our children carbon copies of ourselves.  When we yield to God and allow Him to direct the way that our children are to be molded and shaped, God will be given the greater glory and honor, the child will be MUCH happier, and the life and ministry of that child will increase and blossom as they embrace God through the love that their parents showed them.  Children model us.  Let us be the right model for them.

Wonderful Weapons

God does not look at children merely as rewards and a heritage; in the battle of sin and righteousness, they are to be powerful weapons – highly skilled warriors.  The Psalmist Solomon, who was the wisest man (apart from Jesus Christ) to ever walk the Earth, uses the imagery of archery to convey this point.  An archer is responsible for aiming the arrow, providing the right angle for it, and releasing it at just the right time with just the right force to accomplish whatever goal the archer has been given.

In the same way, children are like arrows.  We train them up in the way they should go, preparing them to be used by God for His purposes, and when they are ready, we release them into the world to accomplish the goals God has already planned for them to do.  As a parent, you are to be the archer, listening intently to your Commander-In-Chief for instructions on how and when to arm yourself with your weapons, pointing them in the direction they should go, and releasing them with just the right force at just the right time to be effective.  That is both a great responsibility and a great honor.

Capable Candidate

And when we raise our children correctly, they will be formidable opponents against the evil of this world.  Even when they are falsely accused and brought before the courts by those who would seek to destroy them, they will more than adequately refute their adversaries in the courtroom battle, for it is not we who fight, but the Lord who fights for us:

The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”

Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit.

“no weapon forged against you will prevail,
and you will refute every tongue that accuses you.
This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord,
and this is their vindication from me,”
declares the Lord. (Emphasis added)

A Qualifying Question

Let’s ask a question:  Do I cherish children the same way that the Lord God Almighty does?

A short prayer of preparation:

Father in Heaven, Thank You for your heritage, blessing, and challenge of children.  Give me the right mindset as I interact with them, whether they are my own, or someone else’s, for they are Yours and Yours alone.  Just as you make us managers over your creation, You have chosen us to manage children in the same way, loving them as You love them, training them as You train us, and remembering that they are Yours and not ours.  Give us the wisdom, discernment, and ability to raise them up in the way they should go, not the way we desire them to go.  And help them to be mighty weapons, straight and true arrows in the quivers of their parents, ready to be aimed and deployed when and where You see fit.  And may they be mightily effective in every battle that they engage, for You, Lord God, go before them and fight for them with zeal and with their guardian angels.  Strengthen them, and keep them from evil.  Let them be light and salt to this wicked generation.  Give them a focus upon Jesus that we cannot even comprehend, and may their children be doubly effective for You.  This I ask in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Want more?  Why not try A. B. Simpson or A. W. Tozer?