Text: Genesis 4:1
Two Ways in which God Can Operate
- Directly — through miracles
- Indirectly — through providence
- Childbirth fits into the realm of providence, rather than the miraculous
Childbirth is Common
- This is not to say that conception & childbirth are automatic & without risk of complications
- But childbirth is common for all peoples, places, and generations since the beginning (Genesis 4:1)
- Miracles are uncommon — childbirth is common because of God’s providence
Self-Sustaining Creation
- God designed creation to be self-sustaining (2 Peter 3:4; Acts 14:15,17)
- One of the things God ordained was that living things would reproduce after their kind (Genesis 1:12,21,24,28)
God’s Help in Childbirth (Genesis 4:1) — What has God provided to make childbirth possible?
- God made male & female (Genesis 1:27)
- God gave women the unique role of bearing children (1 Timothy 2:15)
- God also gave women the ability to handle childbirth — there would be pain (Genesis 3:16), but women would not be unable to handle it
Conclusion
- God plays a role in childbirth (Psalm 139:13; 22:9)
- Yet He is not involved in the miraculous creation of each member of the human race — instead, by His providential design, each one of us was formed in the womb & born
- God instructed man to be fruitful & multiply (Genesis 1:28) — through childbirth He has given the way for this to be done
- It is a “witness” of God (Acts 14:15,17) — perfectly showing His wisdom & power to all generations & peoples
Read the article: The “Miracle” of Birth
