“Writhe and labor to give birth, daughter of Zion, like a woman in childbirth; for now you will go out of the city, dwell in the field, and go to Babylon. There you will be rescued; there the LORD will redeem you from the hand of your enemies.” (Micah 4:10)
Micah knew that dark days lied ahead for Israel. They were soon to go into Babylonian captivity and be torn from the land that they loved. They would become refugees in a foreign land for seventy years and a whole generation would live exiled from the Promised Land.
So God gave His faithful hope for the impending trial – these pains would be like labor pains. They would be terrible, but they wouldn’t be forever. They would also produce something. These years of exile would produce a generation purged of idolatry and full of reverence for the one true and living God. These painful years would give birth to a nation prepared for the coming of the Messiah.
Sometimes, the pain you are in now is preparing you for the joy you aren’t ready for yet.
Matthew 4:4 #Biblebites