Birth Pains

“All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it’s not only around us; it’s within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We’re also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don’t see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.” Romans 8:22-25Childbirth has been described as one of the worst pains a pregnant woman can ever experience. For those who have never given birth it is difficult to get an understanding or wrap your head around the amount of pain that a pregnant woman endures. So how can someone who hasn’t experienced it comprehend how bad it can be. Well there are other ailments that are also extremely painful; kidney stones, root canals, surgeries, migraines, fractures, etc. and they only provide a glimpse of said pain.As someone who has experienced labor pains first hand there is one thing that I understood especially after having my first child and that is that the pain was only temporary. The Apostle Paul describes the Christian experience in this world to that of the pains of childbirth. Just look around and you’ll see the enormity of suffering in the world. These are difficult times and these times are not relegated only to the poor. As people of faith we experience persecution but not just on the outside but on the inside. Our spirit groans as we observe the many challenges all around us and it affects the spirit within us. We want to be delivered, we want to experience freedom from the pains of this life and we will when Christ comes to redeem us but in the meantime we wait for the appointed time of delivery.We wait in hope as we experience the contractions preceding deliver as we hope in our Savior’s glorious return when He will deliver us from this world filled with misery and destruction.