“SPIRITUAL BIRTH PANGS”
All Life experiences trials and change! Wheat must be sifted and pulverized to get flour.
A grape must be crushed to bring juice. An olive must be pressed to give its oil.
As we draw closer to our Lord of Lord and King of Kings return, without question, we
don’t escape feeling of change and spiritual birth pangs. When thinking of where the Church of
God is today spiritually, some words of Jesus come to mind. “A woman when she is in travail
hath sorrow, because her hour is come.....” (John 16:21). After digging deeper into this subject,
Its amazing to find the Scriptures often compare certain spiritual situations to a woman in the
travail of child birth.
In that moment for a woman, there is pressure, pain, and panic. Medical doctors tell us
that it is the closest a woman will come to death without actually dying. And to think, a woman
will endure all of that for just one thing,- the birth of a new life.
As the Lord prepares us for the days ahead, are we prepared for that future moment? Can
we endure the possibility of spiritual pressure, spiritual pain, and spiritual panic unlike anything
we have ever known? Meditating on this process, what can we expect as the end of this age
draws closer?
Reading God’s word makes It sound like it will be a sudden experience. The Apostle
Paul writes “For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the
night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as
travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape” (1 Thess 5:2-3). Paul compared
the day of the Lord to a woman who found herself suddenly in travail. A woman can go from
total peace and contentment, to anguish and pain in matter of seconds. There is typically little
notice or warning; it just hits. The word "travail" means to "bring forth." A life or church that
expects to "bring forth" the Kingdom of God in a sudden moment. A woman will say, "it could
be any day now." She anticipates, looks, and longs for the moment. During that time, what feeds
the anticipation is the curiosity as to who (or what!) they will look like, whether it is a boy or a
girl, and the hope of his or her potential in life.
There is one thing we all understand when a child is born, the hand of God has been at
work. If you are seeking to bring God Kingdom into your life, expect and anticipate a sudden
travail in your life. At that moment, let the curiosity of what God will "bring forth" from your
life captivate your attention.
Birth is a sorrowful experience. The joy of a child being born will NEVER come without
having sorrowful pain. When you see a person to whom God has given a new child, what do you
think? Some wish it were theirs, while others think it is given them a gift like an athletic event
to the first 100 who enter. However, think what it is they have been through to get it. The
anointing of a new born is not free nor easy. Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:3, “... and they
shall not escape." A mother in travail wants to get out of the experience. However, as the womb
contracts, the only way out is to go through with it.
It is a separating experience. In Genesis 35, the unthinkable occurs with a woman in
travail. Rachel dies giving birth to Benjamin. In giving birth, she gave up herself! So few of us
will ever know abundant spiritual life because we cannot part with ourselves. When a woman
gives birth, there are some things altered that will never be the same again. Is not that what the
new birth is all about? In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus met travail that pressed out
submissive courage. On the stake, Jesus met travail that crushed sin. When our moment of
travail comes, what will we "bring forth." “A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow,
because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more
the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world” (John 16:21). ☜
Cogit