Category: Barrenness to Fruitfulness

God-allowed barrenness is usually temporary and seasonal; it has a set time to be broken. However, there are other types of barrenness that do not come from God. These may be due to Satanic harassment or human failure. These types of barrenness will be remedied as soon as the cause is found and corrected. The following passage records the story of King David worshipping before the Lord when he brought the Ark of the Covenant back to Israel. Michal, daughter of Saul and David’s first wife, despised him for acting in such an undignified manner. (2 Sam 6:14-16 NIV)  David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the LORD with all his might, {15} while he and the entire house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouts…

Introduction This is a study on barrenness. In the Bible you will find examples of people who have been barren and without physical children. From these examples, we can learn how God helped them to overcome their barrenness. In a similar manner, many of us have been barren without spiritual children. We have tried so hard to win souls for Christ but not seeing the results. We wonder if we are doing things correctly. We wonder if it is worth the effort at all. We get discouraged. This is what we can do to overcome barrenness. Worship the Lord (Exo 23:25-26 NIV) Worship the LORD your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you, {26} and none will miscarry…

Rachel was loved by Jacob more than Leah because of her beauty. That made Leah unloved and rejected and the Lord opened her womb because of that. (Gen 29:30-31 NIV)  Jacob lay with Rachel also, and he loved Rachel more than Leah. And he worked for Laban another seven years. {31} When the LORD saw that Leah was not loved, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. (Gen 30:1 NIV)  When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister. So she said to Jacob, "Give me children, or I'll die!" In the midst of barrenness, Rachel committed the error of envy. She compared herself with those who had what she did not and hoped for. The Bible warns us against comparing…

(Gen 11:30 NIV)  Now Sarai was barren; she had no children. (Gen 21:1-2 NIV)  Now the LORD was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what he had promised. {2} Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. Sarah was barren and had to wait 39 years for God to fulfil His promise to give her a child. By the time God was ready to fulfil His promise, both Abraham and Sarah were already very old and humanly impossible to have a child. Perhaps God chose to act in this time so that it would be clear to everyone that what God did for Abraham and Sarah was a miracle and…

After God has promised Abraham and Sarah that they would have children as numerous as the stars in the sky and a descendant through whom the whole world would be blessed, they continued to remain barren for many years. Finally they had a son Isaac promised to them. But the problem of barrenness is not gone from this line. Isaac’s wife Rebekah, who was supposed to have many descendants as a result of God’s promise to Abraham, was also barren. She was barren despite her sisters blessing her with many offspring. (Gen 24:60 NIV)  And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, "Our sister, may you increase to thousands upon thousands; may your offspring possess the gates of their enemies." This tells me that when God promised us something, that…

Elizabeth’s barrenness (Luke 1:6-7 NIV)  Both of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord's commandments and regulations blamelessly. {7} But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren; and they were both well along in years. Both Zacharias and Elizabeth were doing all the right things in the sight of the Lord. Yet they were without children. Both of them were in leadership positions, serving as priests of the tabernacle. Zacharias served in the Abijah class of priest. Elizabeth was a direct descendant of Aaron, the previous high priest of Israel. They not only served God faithfully, they were upright in character as well. You may have done everything you can to bear fruits yet without success. You may have tried everything and obeyed God…

(1 Sam 1:1-2 NIV)  There was a certain man from Ramathaim, a Zuphite from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. {2} He had two wives; one was called Hannah and the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none. Hannah is the mother of Samuel, the great prophet-judge of Israel whose ministry spanned several kings. She too was a barren woman. To make things worse, the other wife of her husband, Peninnah was not barren and was provoking her for her barrenness. (1 Sam 1:6-7 NIV)  And because the LORD had closed her womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. {7} This went on year…

We all know Samson as a great Bible hero who had tremendous strength. His mother, whose name we do not even know, was also a barren woman. We know her only as Manoah’s wife. (Judg 13:2-5 NIV)  A certain man of Zorah, named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, had a wife who was sterile and remained childless. {3} The angel of the LORD appeared to her and said, "You are sterile and childless, but you are going to conceive and have a son. {4} Now see to it that you drink no wine or other fermented drink and that you do not eat anything unclean, {5} because you will conceive and give birth to a son. No razor may be used on his head, because the boy is…