How "Full of Faith" Are You?

This was a question that God asked me recently. I am not in the habit of hearing God's voice audibly calling from heaven like a scene from "The Exodus", but occasionally God uses my own internal dialogue to pull me up and get me to evaluate myself. I had just finished my morning "devotional" reading and was beginning to pray when this thought entered my head. "How faithful are you really? You have enough faith to believe that God will save you from hell and preserve you for heaven; but how far does your faith go after that?"
Recently, I've had conversations with my wife and others on the topic of children and the size of families. I've been impressed with and skeptical of certain couples who have decided to allow "God to plan" their families. I viewed this as somewhat foolish because it opens a couple to having (enter large number here) children. Can they afford to support that many children? Do they have time to properly discipline, train, and equip that many children to grow in wisdom, stature, and favor with both God and man? My conclusion was that it was important to be *wise (for the Truth see Ps. 111 especially v. 10; Prov. 9:10) in planning your family so that you do not stretch your finances to breaking nor stretch your time commitments beyond the ability to raise the children well. I felt vindicated in my conclusion by observing the way in which the majority of Christians plan their families.
But then God comes up with this question. "Do you really trust me?"
"Of course, I trust You. I've seen you take care of me in miraculous ways."
"Do you trust me with your family?"
"Um.... sure, I trust You as long as You don't rob them from me."
"To whom do they belong?"
"Oh... right."
"Will you trust me with your family?"
(long silence)
You can see where this is going. For about a half an hour this dialogue continued in my head. We finally came to the crux of the issue. The vindication for my *wisdom about controlling my family was slowly and methodically destroyed from the foundation. The comfortable castle that I had built in which trusting God was an interesting topic but not a necessary evil was razed to the ground
"I will trust You with my family."
"Will you trust me with the size of your family?"
(another long silence) "Yes."
"If I give you 6 children?"
"Yes." (that's all I wanted anyway.)
"What about if I give you 8 children?"
"Yes." (that's still manageable.)
"What about if I give you 12 children?"
(Gulp!) "Yes."
"What if I want you to have more children than the Duggars?"
"Oh please, God, not that!"
"Will you trust me?"
"Yes, but what about the finances and my time and energy? I don't make enough to provide for a family that size and still support missions and put away for retirement! I don't have enough energy or time to spend with each child to train them up appropriately and discipline them toward righteousness! How could I possibly effectively manage a household that large?"
"Will you trust me?"
Obviously, this version of my conversation is edited to fit the time allotted. I will skip to the conclusion that I came to and the challenge this put into my own life.
First, I concluded that I will trust God with the number of children I will eventually have. What this means practically is that my wife and I will do nothing to try to prevent pregnancy unless pregnancy is a direct risk to the life of my wife. We will take that to be a sign from God to stop having children.
Second, I concluded from Scripture that God will provide for all of my needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19). Don't you hate it when an old familiar verse is thrown in you face to support an uncomfortable change in your lifestyle? So God will provide financially for the number of children with which He chooses to bless me. He will also provide me with the time and energy to effectively raise up these children to become men and women of faith.
"Unless the LORD builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; Unless the LORD guards the city, the watchman keeps awake in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, to retire late, to eat the bread of painful labors; For He gives to His beloved even in his sleep. Behold, children are a gift of the LORD, the fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth. How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them; They will not be ashamed when they speak with their enemies in the gate." (Psalm 127)
I believe that the Bible is Truth, do you? I will try my best with God's help to live according to the Truth of the Bible, will you?
I am not suggesting that if you disagree with my conclusions, then you are somehow ungodly. I simply want to challenge your perceptions as God has challenged mine. As you study God's Word, what will you do with the truth that He reveals to you?