Isaiah 49:18-21 Lift up your eyes and look around; all your
sons gather and come to you. As surely as I live," declares the LORD, "you
will wear them all as ornaments; you will put them on, like a bride. "Though you were ruined and made desolate
and your land laid waste, now you will be too small for your people, and
those who devoured you will be far away. The children born during your
bereavement will yet say in your hearing, ‘This place is too small for
us; give us more space to live in.’ Then you will say in your heart, ‘Who
bore me these? I was bereaved and barren; I was exiled and rejected. Who
brought these up? I was left all alone, but these— where have they come
from?’"
Comment
Barren women in particular often feel the sense of bereavment having no
children. And wives will measure one another's prosperity based upon the
quantity and quality of their children. An example in the Old Testament
is Hannah who became the mother of Samuel. She was grieved at her barrenness
and insulted for it.
As Christians are the bride of Christ there is a similar issue of having
children. But I'm not referring to physical offspring. Rather I am referring
to spiritual offspring. For consider Abraham. In Galatian 3:29 it
says speaking to Gentile Christians, "If you belong
to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.",
even without a physical connection between the two. So also when we influence
others to believe in Christ they are as if our children. For Paul speaks
to the Corinthian Christians saying, "In Christ Jesus
I became your father through the gospel." 1Cor 4:15
Don't underestimate the impact you will have upon others when you walk
as Jesus did. For though there are trials and discipline to face, God is
working behind the scenes to accomplish His purposes so that many may be
saved.