The Great Obstetrician

So, I’m trying to blog again at the encouragement of those around me. I don’t know if I’ll blog everyday or just once in a while. I don’t know if anyone will read anything I write but that’s OK. I’ll write mainly for myself and, perhaps, in the process someone will be encouraged as well.

I have a verse pinned up on my desk at work.

“Shall I bring to the point of birth and not give delivery?” – Isaiah 66:9

Do you ever have a mountain in your life you feel you just can’t quite get over? Is there a hurt you just can’t quite forgive? A sin you can’t quite conquer? A fear you just can’t quite rid yourself of? A relationship you long to restore but can’t? Do you ever wonder if things will ever change? Have you shed tears, tossed in your bed, wrestled with the knot in your stomach about these things?

I do. I have. I feel discouraged many times in my own life. Despite my own best efforts I fail in many ways. Despite time spent in prayer, many prayers remain unanswered or seemingly ignored.  It was in one of those times that I saw this verse in an email my father sent to me.

Will God bring our victory to the point of birth but not follow through? Will he tease us with promises of freedom and forgiveness only to never provide what He promises? Will he promise boldness but force us to walk in fear? Will He promise restoration only to neglect to act?

No. No, He will not. He is the God who delivers.  In fact, frequently in scripture He is referred to as “The Deliverer.” I think most of the time we think of “Deliverer” in the UPS or FedEx sense of the word.  We order a package from God (a prayer, a struggle, a fear) and think that He’ll be our personal Prayer Delivery Guy.  We order, The Deliverer delivers. No pain. No waiting. No struggle. We rush order our prayer and except the Deliverer to follow through as per our request. It’ll be there the next day, answered prayer waiting on our door step.

But what if Our Deliverer is not a Fed Ex guy but instead the Great Obstetrician. I’m not a woman and will never give birth, but I know it’s painful and I know it’s a process. From the point of conception to full delivery, it’s a difficult process – morning sickness, weight gain, cravings, which culminate in a painful process of final delivery.  You see, the struggles in your life – the fears, the hurts, the sins – are a process not an order. The Deliverer is an obstetrician not a Fed Ex guy. The Deliverer works us through a process starting with the conception of an idea, conviction.

“I need to change this sin.”

“I need to forgive that person.”

“I need to conquer fear and trust God.”

“I need to restore that relationship.”

“I need to pray for so and so.”

And, after much waiting, much suffering, much travail, much labor, The Great Obstetrician delivers. The most painful part of a pregnancy is the delivery. So it is in the spiritual realm. It is at the most painful, most difficult, most inexplicable circumstances that our delivery draws near. If it’s not hurting it’s not close to birth.

Are you hurting in your struggle, whatever it may be? Have you reached a point of painful desperation? Have you reached levels of excruciating spiritual desperation? That is how The Great Obstetrician delivers. In pain. In struggle. In desperation.

But within that pain, within that struggle, within that desperation is a promise. The Great Obstetrician delivers. Guaranteed. That is the great promise of it all. He delivers. No matter the pain, no matter the struggle, no matter the hopelessness. He will deliver.

So, for those who are discouraged, to those who are downtrodden, to those who are hopeless, to those who are desperate – lift up your eyes, The Deliverer draws near. Your struggle is coming to an end and delivery, along with the new life it brings, is close at hand.

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