Those people are zealous to win you over, but for no good. What they want is to alienate you from us, so that you may have zeal for them. 18 It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good, and to be so always, not just when I am with you. 19 My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you, 20 how I wish I could be with you now and change my tone, because I am perplexed about you!21 Tell me, you who want to be under the law, are you not aware of what the law says? 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. 23 His son by the slave woman was born according to the flesh, but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a divine promise.24 These things are being taken figuratively: The women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar. 25 Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother. 27 For it is written:
“Be glad, barren woman,
you who never bore a child;
shout for joy and cry aloud,
you who were never in labor;
because more are the children of the desolate woman
than of her who has a husband.”
28 Now you, brothers and sisters, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29 At that time the son born according to the flesh persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit. It is the same now. 30 But what does Scripture say? “Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman’s son.” 31 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman. Gal.4:17-31
I heard someone the other day tell how they met their spouse and it wasn't through online, social media or dating apps but it was through trusting God to bring their spouse to them, I guess sort of like Rebekkah was brought to Isaac. Or, I know some infertile couples who aren't using reproductive technology but trusting God to give them a child. In saying such things they don't mean to, but we feel a bit of shame for not living "lives of faith" like they are. We see Abraham and Sarah as examples of faith that even while their bodies were "dead" to having children, they had Isaac and they slipped up when they tried to use the reproductive technology of their day, Hagar, and had Ishmael.
Here's the problem; if faith is trusting God's promises, we aren't promised spouses nor children. We are promised such things like our needs being met, our paths being directed, all things working together for good, He who began a work will complete it, grace and mercy to help in time of need, Heaven, He will never leave us or forsake us - but I don't see a baby or a spouse in that list.
This hits home because 3 of the grandchildren currently in my house for the Holidays were born through In Vitro. Now to me, that is more miraculous than timing the menstrual cycle, using ovulation test strips and timed coitus. Harvesting eggs putting them in a petri dish, fertilizing them with sperm, observing the Zona pellucida be penetrated under a microscope watching cell division and then freezing it to be implanted at another date by overriding the host's natural hormones with injections to time the prime implantation, seems a lot more miraculous to me. But what are we to make of the "wait on God" process of living? Is that demonstrating more faith?
In one way it is because you are denying all your desires and telling God, "I want you more than anything." It's almost like Job saying, "Though He slay me, I will trust in Him." But, didn't we already tell Him that when we got saved? Does he want us to climb Mount Moriah now and sacrifice those things to prove it? Is that what the life of faith is, some kind of Monastic life of denying our dreams? The thing about dating Apps and In Vitro is that even though you use them, you aren't guaranteed success. How do you view God when singleness and infertility are seeming inevitable even after pursuing marriage and Children. Are you angry at Him. Do you no longer trust Him? Have you quit talking to Him? Maybe, a life of faith is pursuing your dreams but surrendering the outcome to the Lord and saying in the end, "I'd rather have Jesus than anything this World has to offer."
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