God As A Midwife
Categories: Church of Christ Bulletin ArticlesIn Psalm 22:9-19, the writer refers to God as taking him from the womb and keeping him safe on his mother’s breast. God is pictured as the midwife who delivers David, the writer, as well as the nation of Israel. He brought them into new life with His deliverance.
God did the delivery but now has He forgotten them and David?
“But You are He who took Me out of the womb;
You made me trust while on My mother’s breasts.
I was cast upon You from birth.
From My mother’s womb
You have been My God.
Be not far from Me,
For trouble is near;
For there is none to help.”
We call this Psalm a hymn of lament. David is afraid, and he complains to God; not only for himself but for the people. God has “birthed” them both ….. and now there is nothing but fear and sorrow. However, though the psalmist complains and laments he finally comes to the point where he recognizes that God will care for His own.
“The poor shall eat and be satisfied;
Those who seek Him will praise the Lord.
Let your heart live forever!”
God is the giver of life as the one who makes the wombs fertile and aids in the birthing process.
He made fertile the wombs of Sarah, the mother of Isaac, and Hannah the mother of Samuel. Then the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 66:6-9, building on this tradition, applies a midwife image to God.
“Shall I open the womb and not deliver? Says the Lord; shall I, the one who delivers, shut the womb?”
Although the images may seem strange to us, yet God is still in the birthing process. Mankind still endures the birth pangs of being born in faith.
Remember what Jesus told Nicodemus? (John 3:3-6).
Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter second time into his mother’s womb and be born? Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.”
Therefore, God, himself, will midwife humans into a spiritual life.
Do you believe that God has known you and been with you since conception?
Take heart ….. He has known you from birth and continues to hold you close.
—Barbara Hyland, guest writer