Above Rubies Daily Encouragement Blogs
Through the weekly and daily devotionals you can be constantly encouraged in your great role of parenting, the highest career in the nation. You can also stay updated on what's happening with the Above Rubies ministry.
LET’S THINK LIKE GOD THINKS
Yesterday we talked about what to call a baby growing in the womb. We discovered that God’s Word often uses the phrase “with child.”There is another word that God uses. It’s actually a Hebrew word but it reveals great truth. We know that life begins at conception, but it is amazing to understand that God sees life even before it is conceived. Did you know that He uses the same word for the word sperm as He does to describe people? Let’s look at it, shall we?
The Hebrew word for sperm is “zera” and it is the same word that is used to describe people at different stages of life.
Genesis 46:6, 7 tells how Jacob and all his family came down from Canaan to Egypt: “And they took their cattle, and their goods, which they had gotten in the land of Canaan, and came into Egypt, Jacob, and all his seed with him: His sons, and his son’s sons with him, his daughters, and his son’s daughters, and all his seed brought he with him into Egypt.” This Scripture is talking about sons and daughters of all ages, and grandsons and granddaughters of all ages—babies, little ones, teens, and adults! And they are all called “zera,” the same word for sperm!
In Numbers 14:24 God says that because Caleb “followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed (zera) shall possess it.” Imagine if Caleb lived in our society today. There would be many people who God intended to be born, but were not born, and would therefore miss out on the blessings of possessing the land.
Because Phinehas was zealous for the Lord and stood against the adultery that was happening amongst the people at that time, God said: “Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace: And he shall have it, and his seed (zera) after him, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was zealous for his God” (Numbers 25:12, 13). The blessing God gave him was also for his coming descendants. If they were contracepted as so many Christian parents are doing today, they would not have been born to inherit the blessings God gave to his future posterity.
Let’s go to the New Testament. Hebrews 7:9, 10 tells us how Levi paid tithes to Melchisedec while he “was yet in the loins” of Abraham who was his great-grandfather! He wouldn’t have even been a twinkle in Abraham’s eyes and yet God knew him before he was conceived. The Bible states that he literally paid tithes as Abraham paid tithes! Wow, God’s understanding is far beyond ours, isn’t it?
My daughter, Serene and I were talking about life on one of my podcasts. Solly (her one-year-old) at the time, was sitting on her knee, and she said, “Oh my goodness, imagine if I didn't have her! It's just too incredible and too amazing. And look at her personality! Imagine if I had said, ‘No, God, I don't want her, I don't care for Your desire to have her in eternity with You.”
What a powerful revelation! This is something to think about. When we say No to a child that God has planned before the foundation of the world to spend eternity with Him, we deprive that child of life. Not only of life in this world but of the opportunity to enjoy the glories of the eternal world forever—glories that are beyond the scope of our human minds to comprehend! How dreadful to deprive someone of eternal glory.
Our minds are so puny. I constantly ask God to open my mind to think His thoughts. To understand His ways. To save me from putting Him in a box, from bringing Him down to the level of my puny thinking, of making myself a god instead of allowing Him to be God!
Oh, let’s begin to think like God thinks. If we belong to the kingdom of God, let’s be on His side. God is a God of life, and His kingdom is a kingdom of life.
Blessings and love from Nancy Campbell
Picture: Janelle Bass and her precious children.
