No More Strength to Deliver the Vision?

“Do I bring to the moment of birth and not give delivery?” says the LORD.
“Do I close up the womb when I bring to delivery?” says your God.  – Isaiah 66:9 (NIV)

What do you do when you feel like giving up? What do you do when you have given your all to a thing that seemed to be heading somewhere and suddenly it not only breaks down, but does so beyond possible repair? What do you do when you get to the time when the vision you have carried in your womb should be birthed and you find you have no more strength to push it out? This was the case of King Hezekiah:

‘“This is what Hezekiah says: This day is a day of distress and rebuke and disgrace, as when children come to the point of birth and there is no strength to deliver them’ 2 Kings 19: 3 (NIV)

Hezekiah had taken over as king, after years of a moral downward slide in the kingdom of Judah that gradually impoverished the country and enslaved the people to their neighbours. I can imagine Hezekiah observing all this as he grew up, and a vision forming in the womb of his soul to see the kingdom restored to its past glory.

At the age of twenty-five Hezekiah became king and got his chance to pursue his vision – this thing God had put in his heart. He was a good student of the Scriptures and of history, and so had rightly diagnosed the trouble with Judah to be her backsliding. So Hezekiah set himself to restore the true worship of Jehovah in Judah. His simple and wise formula must have been something like this: – ‘Our tragedy is not the many things we have lost, but that we have lost our God. Let us return to the Lord. Let us find him again for he is all we need’.  It takes wisdom to simplify life to its basic essentials, especially in the midst of a multitude of woes, when men are inclined to manufacture many ‘self-help’ rescue plans.

But Hezekiah sought the Lord with all that he had;

‘Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him. He held fast to the LORD and did not cease to follow him; he kept the commands the LORD had given Moses’ 2 Kings 18: 5-6 (NIV).

And he found God. God shows up when men seek him with all their heart like this man did.

‘And the LORD was with him; he was successful in whatever he undertook. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him. From watchtower to fortified city, he defeated the Philistines, as far as Gaza and its territory’ – 2 Kings 18: 7-8 (NIV)

When you focus on seeking God with all your heart, you will find him, and he will enlarge you. God began to grant this man a foretaste of the manifestation of the vision that had been in his womb all those years. I can imagine that at this stage Hezekiah was walking around and thinking; ‘Any time now – maybe next year or the next, this kingdom will truly arise in glory like the days of old.’

But suddenly trouble arose. The powerful king of Assyria threatened to stamp out the little change that was budding in Judah. And it was not a vain boast for this man had just swallowed up stronger Israel and carted them off into captivity.

It was not that Hezekiah was not expecting troubles as he pursued his vision (he had already faced a few), but this was much more than he had imagined. This was just too much.

Hence my question this week beloved, ‘What do you do when you are faced with much more trouble than you can imagine? What do you do when your vision is threatened with death before delivery? What do you do when hope runs out?’ Do what Hezekiah did. Hezekiah turned to God. In his weariness and helplessness, he threw himself on God again, and though the trouble did not disappear immediately, God finally intervened for him. God helped him bring that baby to birth. It did not die. If God is the originator of that vision in your bosom then he will also be the midwife to make sure it is brought to birth. Hear God’s questions to you:

“Do I bring to the moment of birth
and not give delivery?” says the LORD.
“Do I close up the womb
when I bring to delivery?” says your God.  – Isaiah 66:9

And the answer is: No!. God will finish what he has started in you.

There may be some of you who are on the verge of a divorce, or considering resigning from ministry or planning to close up your business, because the trouble has grown far bigger than you had envisaged. Please don’t give up. Instead surrender to God again. Let him take over, and let him show you what to do.