Journey to Joy: The Psalms of Ascent by Josh Moody

Author:Josh Moody [Moody, Josh]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9781433534997
Publisher: Crossway
Published: 2013-04-29T16:00:00+00:00

Motivation to Have Children

In one sense, what this is saying is obvious. It is simply saying that children are a good thing. But it is trying to help us see why that is the case even when we do not feel as if it is true. It is giving us a surprising shift of perspective. It is saying, “Children do not inherit; parents inherit.” It is saying, “Children do not get rewarded; parents get rewarded.” It is saying, “Children do not make us weak, old, and exhausted; they make us ready for battle.” Together the puzzle pieces create a picture of children as your reward, your inheritance, and your arrows, because when you are older, having strong, godly children around you will protect you.

I want you to notice that this motivating language toward having children speaks to male sensibilities. I know there are women who do not really want children. I know there are men who long for children. But here is distinctly male motivation for the man who wants the wife but is not sure about the children: great inheritance, great pay, and really good at winning battles. All this means “he shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.” The gate was the place either of battle where a city was defended against those who were trying to sack it or where law courts met to administer justice and settle disputes. In either scenario, facing battle or facing a lawsuit, a man who has strong sons around him will be well protected. He will have children to fight with him when there is war and children to speak up for him when there is a dispute.

Certainly, even believing that children are great does not stop them from being a strain at times. Someone said to me that you spend the first few years of your children’s lives teaching them to walk and talk, and then the next dozen years of your children’s lives training them to sit and be quiet. Perhaps children can exhaust even the most devoted parents to such an extent as to take literally the advice on the aspirin bottle: “Take two aspirin and keep away from children.” But in the perspective of this psalm, it is astonishing that many in the developed world are reconsidering their historic commitment to have more children than the number of parents. Assuredly, in some parts of the world, population growth still worries environmentalists and those who plan to make sure there are enough resources for everyone. But Western society, at least in parts of Europe, is having fewer children than the previous generation. This means their future is drying up, for in the view of this psalm, children, expensive as they may be at the front end, are an investment in our future.

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