Our daughter gave us one of the greatest gifts of our lives when she and her husband gave us our grandson. We all got the blessing, but she had to do the work. And now she’s getting ready to do it again! Yep, grandchild number two! Now I know it’s not the process of having the baby that made her go through this again. Her first pregnancy wasn’t a whole lot of fun, and labor, well it really wasn’t fun at all. But in spite of that painful process, she’s doing it again – because of the beautiful result it produces.
Well, I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about “The Grief And The Glory.”
Every woman who’s had a baby has had an unforgettable, firsthand lesson in the ways of God. The way we came into this world tells us a lot about the way God works over and over again in our lives – a painful process that produces a beautiful result.
In the final hours before Jesus’ arrest and execution, He spent a long and tender time trying to prepare His disciples for the ordeal ahead. Part of that preparation is in our word for today from the Word of God in John 16:19. What does He talk about? A woman having a baby!
He says, “You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. A woman giving birth to a child has pain, 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.”
Earlier, Jesus had described their time of missing Him as “a little while”. It really is just like labor. The process is definitely painful. And leave it to a man to say this, but the painful process is relatively brief – in light of the life that comes from it. So here is God’s pattern for birthing something new, something beautiful, something life-changing – He takes you through a painful, but relatively brief, process to produce a beautiful and lasting result.
And that may be something you need to remember right now – because you’re smack-dab in the middle of the painful process. All you know is that it hurts. Notice, Jesus said, with total realism, “You will grieve ...a woman giving birth... has pain.” If the pain was the whole story, who would want to go through it? But it’s what the pain produces that makes it all worth it! In a child of God, the painful time is always meant to bring about a greater good!
So if you’re in the “labor” part of it right now, ask God to help you focus on the beautiful outcome He wants to produce from this. It may be the purging of some attitudes or actions that has kept you from His best ...or a closeness and experience with your Lord that you could never have had except for this pain. After all his suffering, Job said, “My ears had heard of You, but now my eyes have seen You” (Job 42:5). Maybe what you’re going through is going to help people you love come to Christ as they see Him working in your darkest hour – or to allow you to experience God’s love through His people. Or God may use this to bring about a new closeness in your family or a whole new ministry for your life.
I don’t know what beautiful outcome God has in mind – but I know that this pain is all about a beautiful outcome. That’s how your life started in the first place! Keep your focus on the new life God is birthing. One day you will, like the mother after labor, “forget the anguish because of your joy ...and no one will take away your joy.”
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