Q: My husband and I were married in 2019. We had grand hopes for an exciting life together, but we barely gotten back from our honeymoon when COVID-19 paralyzed the world. Now we question whether we should have children at all. Who wants to bring innocent children into this vile and uncertain world? – P.C.
A: A study of world history reveals that there isn’t a single time when conditions were ideal, or the future was not unstable. Even when social and political circumstances have been reasonably good, the world has been ravaged by natural disasters, plagues, and war. While modern medicine has removed many of the things which threatened life only a generation or two ago, modern technology has developed weapons of mass destruction that can wipe out entire civilizations. But thankfully, God is in control of the future.
The Bible gives many examples of harsh times. The Jewish people were carried away into captivity and faced a dismal future. Many of them must have asked the same question, but Jeremiah told them, “Marry and have sons and daughters …. ‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to . . . give you hope and a future’” (Jeremiah 29:6, 11, NIV). God is Lord over the future, as well as the past and present.
This does not mean everything will be easy in life. But our responsibility is clear: If God gives children to us, we should do whatever we can to strengthen them spiritually so that they too can face the future with a confident hope in God and be an example to others. Children, indeed, are a blessing from the Lord, and parents should raise them up to love Him, obey Him, and become witnesses for the Lord who brings peace and joy to families.
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(This column is based on the words and writings of the late Rev. Billy Graham.)
