Trusting God for the Salvation of our Infant Children

At various times over the last two years, I have struggled with the issue of Micah’s eternal salvation. While there is strong Biblical evidence for the salvation of infants (the subject of other future blog entries), most of these references are only indirect references. There are no direct, unambiguous promises in scripture that children who die in infancy are saved by reason of Jesus’ death and resurrection. I’ve struggled with God over why He did not say anything directly about this issue in scripture. God, could you have not spared just one sentence somewhere in scripture to give us certainty on this issue?

Gradually, God has given me confidence that He has saved Micah. This confidence did not arise out of a new interpretation of passage or a clever argument. God has impressed upon me the importance of simply trusting in His goodness and mercy towards us, his elect.

Obviously, an infant doesn’t need to know whether or not scripture says they are saved. The Bible doesn’t need to include a promise for these illiterate children in order for God to save them. For us parents, I have come to believe that the issue is not whether there is enough “proof” in scripture, but whether we will hold on, in faith, to the promise of God’s goodness to us, even through the storms of doubt, despair, anger and pain. I believe that even if there was an unambiguous promise in scripture about the eternal destiny of our children, many parents might still question the goodness and mercy of a God who allowed an infant child to die. Therefore, the battle is whether those of us who would otherwise question God’s goodness will submit in faith to God’s demonstrated attributes of justice, love and mercy.

The issue of our child’s eternal salvation is a specific example of what all of us are called to do—to submit, in faith, to the ways of a loving and merciful God. For those of us who have lost our children, we place our hopes for seeing our children again squarely on the goodness of God. As the Psalmist says about God, “Though art good and doest good.” Psalm 119:68. We place our lives, our hopes our dreams, everything about the future in the hands of a sovereign God who only does good for those who love Him. Romans 8:28.

Too much of my life has taken the form of unfaithfulness. Whether it has been demanding a specific response from God, or questioning His ways, I have acted unfaithfully towards my God, a God who has always loved me and orchestrated my life for my ultimate good. To demand a specific response from God explaining his ways, whether about my son’s seemingly premature death, or any other trials we might face, is a lack of faith. It means we are requiring God to fit his behavior into our beliefs of moral righteousness and justice. Instead, we should be living in faith knowing that ALL that God does is good.