Commentary on Psalm 127:3

In Calvin's commentary on Psalm 127:3, he once again asserts God's sovereignty in every area of life. (Emphases mine.)

Lo! children are the heritage of Jehovah. Solomon here adduces one instance in which, in a particular manner, he would have us to recognize the truth which he has hitherto asserted generally -- that the life of men is governed by God. Nothing seems more natural than for men to be produced of men. The majority of mankind dream, that after God had once ordained this at the beginning, children were thenceforth begotten solely by a secret instinct of nature, God ceasing to interfere in the matter; and even those who are endued with some sense of piety, although they may not deny that He is the Father and Creator of the human race, yet do not acknowledge that his providential care descends to this particular case, but rather think that men are created by a certain universal motion. With the view of correcting this preposterous error, Solomon calls children the heritage of God, and the fruit of the womb his gift; for the Hebrew word skr, sachar, translated reward, signifies whatever benefits God bestows upon men, as is plainly manifest from many passages of Scripture. The meaning then is, that, children are not the fruit of chance, but that God, as it seems good to him, distributes to every man his share of them. Moreover, as the Prophet repeats the same thing twice, heritage and reward are to be understood as equivalent; for both these terms are set in opposition to fortune, or the strength of men. The stronger a man is he seems so much the better fitted for procreation. Solomon declares on the contrary, that those become fathers to whom God vouchsafes that honor.

Family Voting

Now that I'm old enough to vote, I've been spending a fair amount of time looking into the various measures that are on the ballot for my home state of Oregon. As I was researching, I thought I should call Dad and get his opinion on one of said measures, the thought dawned on me "What if I don't agree with my dad on one of the measures, do I really want to have the effect of nullifying his voice, by voting contrary to him?" That begs the question, what will I do if I disagree with my dad, what will I do? As far as I can tell there are three possible options:

Option 1: Copy how dad votes, and just hope for the best.
Option 2: Thumb my nose at him and vote the way I want to.
Option 3: Work through the issues, and try to come to resolution.

Now, obviously option one and two are absolute non-options (if it were possible to burn bits and bytes, number two at least, should be burned). The third option is the one that I want to elaborate on, which I will procede to do, thusly.
In the unlikely event that we're unable to come to agreement on an issue on which I have a scriptural conviction, I feel that I would have to, as respectfully as possible, cast my vote based on biblical principle.
Thankfully, I don't expect the above situation, and I think that the most desirable outcome would be that through respectful and loving discusion, one of us would be convinced of the others position, thereby bringing harmony.
However, where that isn't possible, I feel that it would be my duty, and my honor, as my fathers son, who, not being married (and thus, head of my own household), is still under his direct authority, to vote the same way as he does, so long as doing so would not violate scripture (i.e. pro-life vs pro-choice). Even if he did not require me to do so, I would not relish the thought of negating the effectiveness of my fathers voice. Praise the Lord that He gave me such God fearing parents, and I think that this voting season will go quite smoothly.

Semper Reformanda!