Surrendering to pain

With my baby on the verge of having a baby, I find myself reliving labor, night after night.

I already mentioned how the key is to relax.  You relax by surrendering to the pain, and the good work it is doing to open your body so birth can come to pass.  You do no good if you fight the pain.  You must surrender to the pain.

It occurs to me that this is a powerful metaphor for sanctification.

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds," writes the Apostle James.  "Because the testing of your faith produces perseverance and maturity." (James 1)

Consider it a gift when you have a labor contraction, because labor contractions produce a baby.

"We rejoice in our sufferings," writes the Apostle Paul, "because suffering produces perseverance, which produces character, which produces hope in the love of God, who will never disappoint." (Romans 5)

In this world you will have trouble, said Jesus, But take heart!  Don't worry about it.  It will all be okay, because I have overcome the world.  (John 16)

Pregnancy, labor and and delivery are a metaphor for the painful, profitable work of sanctification in this life, preparing us for the promised reward of eternal life in glory.

Jesus taught his disciples that grief will turn to joy.  A woman giving birth to a child has anguish because her time has come; but when her baby is born, she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world.  So with you: now is your time of grief, but I will see you again, and you will rejoice, and no-one will take away your joy.  (John 16)

We need to trust God through the pain, the searing moments, and the excruciating seasons.

God is good.  He is full of love, and full of power.  He says, My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.  (Isaiah 46)

The world is broken by sin.  We live here, in this broken place, so sometimes it hurts more than we think we can bear.  The compounding effects of our sins and other people's sins weigh us down and wear us out.  Ironically, we can only prevail if we surrender to the pain, believing God's promise that He works all things for good for His children. (Romans 8)

Come to me, He says, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  (Matthew 11)

Fighting the pain leads only to separation from God, bitterness and despair.  Instead, we must surrender to the Lord's work through painful circumstances, believing in faith, with hope, that something beautiful will be born of it in the end.  We must endure with patient faith in His love.  Meditating on His great love will hold us together.  God demonstrated His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5).  Perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4), and getting past fear is the best way to mitigate pain.

After the Big Mistake in Eden, God told Eve, I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. (Genesis 3)

Sin brought pain and death, but the grace of God is this: even as death entered His perfect creation, He instituted new birth, painful though it had to be, as means for the continuation of life.

I've often pondered on 1 Timothy 2:15 -- But women will be saved through childbearing, if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety.  What in the world does that mean?

Of course, we are all saved as a result of the birth of Jesus through Mary.  God used a mortal woman to give birth to the Savior of the world.  As Jesus undid the curse of Adam, so in a closely connected way, Mary undid the curse of Eve by bringing baby Jesus into the world.  "Behold, I am the servant of the Lord," she said.  "Let it be to me according to your word." (Luke 1)

And thus, a woman gave birth to the man who would save us all.  As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 11, In the Lord, woman is not independent of man, nor man of woman; for as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman.  And all things are from God.

All things are from God.  Life is from God.  Birth is from God.  Grace is from God.  Hope is from God.

It could have been all over, instantly, that day in the garden.  Sin, which leads to death, could have resulted in annihilation, the end of everything.  But the grace of God began immediately to cover sin and bring life out of death.  Although Adam and Eve would die, humanity would not.  Life would continue through their children and their children's children, and in the end, many would be saved, an unfolding, multiplying miracle of grace.

God brings miracles out of bad things, out of pain.  We can surrender to pain with faith and certain hope that joy will prevail in the end, because God is in control.