My curiosity was pricked by Genesis 4:1 in which Eve gives birth to Cain and then says, “With the help of the Lord I have brought forth man.” How exactly did the Lord help her though her pregnancy and childbrith? What did she experience? These questions played a roll in my decision to give birth to Piper without any pain medication. I wanted the birth to be natural to see if I would find any insight to what Eve was talking about (in addition to avoiding complications sometimes caused by pain medicine).
While I’ll never know exactly how the Lord helped Eve, I do know that He is a VERY present help in childbirth. Throughout the delivery Bryce would read scriptures and I would listen to hymns. I was reminded of so many awesome things about the Lord and I could sense that He was working mightily to help me. Scripture became so sweet to me and I clinged to it as contractions got difficult.
Overall, I would say I learned two main things about the Lord through childbirth… The Lord is merciful and the Lord is incredibly loving.
The mercy of the Lord was revealed to me mostly during the breaks between contractions. Pain during childbirth is the curse put on women because of Eve’s sin. Throughout the contractions I thought to myself, “This pain is what human kind deserves.” I realized that the pain I was in was an outpouring of God’s wrath against sin. BUT, even in the midst of that, God would give me breaks. He gave me rests in which I could catch my breath and regain my strength. That is incredible! I didn’t deserve those breaks. In fact, if God were a totally fair God, I should be suffering the pain of childbrith (or worse) all the time. God is such a merciful and loving God to provide grace for me to live a relatively pain-free life. I am so thankful for this!
Christ’s love was also heavily on my mind during the birth. I’m sure the pain that Christ suffered during the crucifixion was at least 10 times worse than childbirth. What is amazing about Christ’s suffering compared to the average man is that Christ didn’t deserve it. He lived sinlessly and yet he suffered like a sinner. He did this in order to provide grace. He suffered so much out of His abundant love. It really takes my breath away.
Overall, I am so thankful for the experience of childbirth. The Lord is so sweet. I cherish Him, and I bask in the light of His mercy and love.
Dorian
As a father who just recently (just over 24 hours ago) watched his first child be born, childbirth is such a miracle. While my wife didn’t have as much pain as some mothers have, she did have pain, but what an amazing time to realize how much God truly loves us as His own children.
By the way, my response to everyone who has congratulated me over the last day by saying something to the effect “How does it feel to be a father?” has been “just a bit more exciting than the last 8 months of being a father… just now I get to see him too!”
William, that is so wonderful. What a blessing! Congratulations. I’m thrilled for you.