Labor Pains

The Parable:

The two mamas were sharing stories—and what is the most deeply embedded story in each of their minds?  The birth of their babies!  Every birth mother knows there’s no comparison to it in pain, anticipation, trauma and drama.  One of the mothers said, “The pain was so bad, I couldn’t take it anymore!!”  “Yeah,” said the other, “I didn’t even get a break between contractions for hours!  There’s no words for the seemingly endless agony with my firstborn.  But my second one was so different; at least I had 30 seconds in between contractions to catch my breath.”

“Well, when I was at that point of agony that I couldn’t handle, the nurse got hysterical to find the doctor, because the baby was peeking through!”

The Discussion:

Do you feel like your life is like the final stages of labor?  It might feel like a hopeless and endless barrage of pain and trial, but God actually has good news for you.  He likens the work of sanctification to a woman in labor.  And if you’re in a place of desperate pain, at the end of your rope, going insane with emotional and even physical agony, then take heart!  You’re at the point of giving birth!  God knows what it is.  Maybe it’s the ultimate birth of entering the glory of heaven; maybe it’s a major breakthrough in sanctification; maybe it’s a big life change that God wants you to be ready to enter.  Whatever the case, God is a God of truth.  The baby is coming, and its entrance will mean the sudden end of your unbearable agony.

Micah 4:10: “Writhe and groan, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in labor, for now you shall go out from the city and dwell in the open country; you shall go to Babylon. There you shall be rescued; there the LORD will redeem you from the hand of your enemies.”

Jeremiah 4:31: “I hear a cry like a woman in labor,

a cry of anguish like one bearing her first child—

the cry of the Daughter of Zion gasping for breath,

stretching out her hands:

‘Woe is me,

for my soul faints before the murderers!’”

Isaiah 42:14-17: “For a long time I have held my peace;

I have kept still and restrained myself;now I will cry out like a woman in labor;I will gasp and pant.15I will lay waste mountains and hills,and dry up all their vegetation;I will turn the rivers into islands,and dry up the pools.16And I will lead the blindin a way that they do not know,in paths that they have not knownI will guide them.I will turn the darkness before them into light,the rough places into level ground.These are the things I do,and I do not forsake them.17They are turned back and utterly put to shame,who trust in carved idols,who say to metal images,“You are our gods.”