Dear Waiting for Baby Bird,
I come from the world’s most fertile family. My Mom has four kids, with the last born when she was 36. My Dad has five kids, including twins born when my Stepmom was 42 and my Dad 52. My elder sister has two kids, my younger sister has two kids, and my brother has one. There is no history of infertility on either my or my husband’s side. When I was younger, I was not a good Christian and did many things I was not supposed to. I proceeded to find God and dedicate myself to him. So, a question that keeps popping into my mind is, did I bring this on myself due to my previous actions?
Signed,
Is Infertility a Punishment for My Past Sins…?
Dear Is Infertility a Punishment for My Past Sins?
Your question and concern is very common among those within the infertility community. How could it not? When something is going wrong in our lives, we tend to look around for the cause, sometimes thrusting ourselves to dig deeper into our faith because we think that if God can fix this, and He hasn’t, then it must be our fault. But let me assure you, infertility is not a punishment for sin. Like all sickness, infertility results from a fallen world, not a penalty placed upon individuals by God.
One of the most common biblical examples that I like to point out to others to help answer this question is in Luke Chapter One. In this first chapter, we meet Zechariah and Elizabeth, whom the bible describes as “upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commandments and regulations blamelessly. But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren; and they were both well along in years” (Luke 1:6-7). You can probably already see why I love their story so much, Because here you have a godly couple whom the bible describes as doing everything right and nothing wrong, yet they still struggled to have the children they longed to hold.
Sweet friend, if infertility were a punishment, indeed, these two outstanding citizens would not have suffered from it. And for those of us who believe in Jesus and His resurrection, Ephesians 1:7 reminds us that “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.” What does this mean for you and me? Infertility is not God’s punishment for our past or future sins; He’s already removed them as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12).
But oh, how the enemy would want us to feel condemned and ashamed. He wants to remind people of their failures and sins and convince them that they are not worthy of being in the family of God. He also wants us to doubt our salvation and the forgiveness of our sins. But, while Satan accuses believers day and night, his accusations are always proven wrong, and that is thanks to Jesus, our Savior, and our Advocate: “But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. When he served as a sacrifice for our sins, he solved the sin problem for good—not only ours, but the whole world’s.” (1 John 2:1-2)
If you have accepted Jesus as your Savior, your past, present, and future sins are wiped away. God doesn’t look at you and see the person you once were; He sees a new creation washed in the blood (2 Corinthians 5:17).
I pray that you begin to see yourself in the same mirror as God sees your reflection.
Furthermore, it’s just not logical or in accordance with God’s nature. For example, for the sake of argument, if you were being punished for your past sins, why is someone who is blatantly living in sin and not repentant able to have children? The answer, again, falls back to living in a fallen and broken world. The facts are, if a person has trouble conceiving, then chances are something is not working correctly within their body, and healing needs to occur. But praise Jesus once more for His sacrifice because our story isn’t over! We have hope for healing and a miracle through Him.
Again, I know that it’s hard not to look around at the lives of others and wonder if it was something you did wrong, but we are all on different paths. Every woman in the bible who struggled to conceive went on to have champions who helped change the world. Just think, if Zachariah and Elizabeth had had a child in their time frame, they would have had just a John. But instead, they had a John the Baptist. A man whom Jesus himself said was the greatest man born of a woman.
I pray that as you also look into God’s mirror and see yourself the way He sees you, you also begin to see your situation as He sees it…perfectly set up for a miracle.
“Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits–who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” Psalm 103:2-5
(I encourage you write down the above scripture and place it somewhere you can see it daily as reminder that you are loved, forgiven, and made whole.)
With Love,
Do you have a question you would like Elisha to answer?
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