Not a Child by Any Means:

ABOUT THE BOOKThe aim of this book is to share our experience and also encourage all couples who are still faithfully waiting on God for the gift of the fruit of the womb by encouraging them to continue to rely completely on God who is able to give joy and bring them (children), at a time when His name alone will be glorified. The author expresses the uneasiness and seriousness of childlessness, especially when you have given your life and your all to and have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior. There is no way there would not be some kind of decline from faith to doubt; and, from doubt to giving up completely. The encouragement that this book gives is that God is able, and abundantly able to do exceedingly above our imagination and thinking. This is the crux of the matter, especially to those who are believers in Christ. Faith in Jesus Christ is the ultimate as touching our expectation and contemplation.In Genesis Chapter One, God created the earth and all the things thereof [including human beings] and He was delighted in the work of His hands. Consequently, He pronounced the blessing of fruitfulness. However, despite this God people like Abraham and Sarah, Hannah and Elizabeth at one time or the other experiences delay in having children. However, history has shown that God allowed their delays for different reasons.We knew, for example, that in the Book of 1st Samuel, God allowed Hannah to pass through a period of delay before giving her baby Samuel. In fact, He allowed her to be subjected to ridicule by her mate Peninnah. But what we often fail to understand was the fact that while Hannah was passing through her childless period, God was at the same time giving the family of Prophet Eli time to amend their ways and repent and at the same time He was also watching to see whether Hannah will continue to be faithful in her coming for the yearly pilgrim to Shiloh to offer sacrifice despite her unanswered prayers and humiliations from her rival. He was observing whether because she had not seen any result from her previous comings to Shiloh, she will be discouraged and refuse to attend.In addition to the above, may be in Gods judgment, the Israelites were not yet ready to receive another prophet that would change the course of their nation. But when the time for all these came and the cup of the family of Eli was full, He sent Samuel to Hannah. One can, therefore, infer that Hannahs period of delay serves as a way of filling a vacuum that existed as a result of God giving room for Eli and his sons to repent from their sinful activities.Also in a reverse of fortune, when Samuel was eventually released to Hannah and he became the prophet at Shiloh, in place of Eli and his children; part of the people who might have been coming to him at Shiloh with their sacrifices and for consultations were Elikanah, Peninnah and her children. Maybe this door of opportunity might not have open for Hannah and her son if Samuel had been born earlier.In the New Testaments, God allowed Elizabeth to experience delay and shame before He gave her John the Baptist. God must have looked at the continued faithful service of Zachariah, Elizabeths husband, as priests despite the fact that his wife was not only barren but she had one with trumpet. The fact that the angel of God met Zachariah while he was performing his priestly duty is an indication that he did not allow his personal family challenge to hinder his services to God.The fact that the angel of God linked the birth of John the Baptist with the coming of Jesus Christ [see Luke 1: 17] can be taken as a pointer to the fact that God allowed the delay of childbearing in the life of Zachariah and Elizabeth because He knew that the time was not yet ripe for the birth and manifestation of Jesus Christ on earth. But at