A Woman’s Silent Testimony: How Pregnancy Enlivens Biblical Truths
A Woman’s Silent Testimony is a collection of eight essays, some short & others long, which discuss God’s Word and how the Author uses the intensity and drama of pregnancy and childbearing to illustrate and enliven Biblical truths & principles. I have posted excerpts of my favorite essay called “Of Blood & Water.” This work reveals how the Passon of the Christ can be understood in the context of a woman’s passion, if you will. That is, a woman’s time of travail is eerily seen in the Savior’s labor to birth our salvation.
The second essay I have posted is my most medical of writings to date. As a physician, I am asked to speak often on this topic. “The Valley Between the Mountains” covers the medical & spiritual treatment of depression. Certainly a subject very timely for our day today!
Of Blood & Water—Excerpts
The Second Adam
After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled saith, I thirst. Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: And they filled a sponge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth. When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: And he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath day, (for that Sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs: But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. And he that saw it bear record, and his record is true: And he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe. For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken. And again another scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced. John 19:28-37
Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, died for the sins of humanity. He was murdered in a dastardly plot by the leaders of the Jewish nation so they could maintain their position and power over the nation. But he was not taken against his will, for he laid down his life. The scripture clearly states that all of his actions including his death were the fulfillment of scripture. He truly was in command of the situation, even in his death!
But I find it intriguing, in reading this account of the last moments of Jesus’ life, that we see a picture of an event of which every mother, every grown woman is familiar. That is, we see a reference to the birth of a baby.
When the soldier pierced his side, out came blood & water. This is a powerful illusion to the combination of fluids that are seen in no other place in medicine other than with the birth of a baby. For as the baby is born, blood will flow from many small tears in a woman’s cervix and vagina while simultaneously amniotic fluid from behind the baby will gush out as the baby comes forth. Indeed, as Jesus died, a birth also occurred. That birth was ours! He died & we were born! …..
Scripture Buildup
First of all, in order to comprehend Jesus’ labor, we need to grasp what labor was like in times of old. For it was somewhat different than in our day today.
In our time, labor is tough. Don’t get me wrong! I’m quite convinced that I would fare poorly if I had even an inkling of the pain a woman experiences with labor. But today’s births are not like births before our modern times. That’s because today a woman does not go into labor wondering whether or not she will survive the ordeal. It’s a given that she will deliver a baby that should do well and she also expects that she will suffer no permanent ill effects.
That was not the case in times past. A woman had no more assurance of surviving the labor and delivery experience than a man did of going to war. Both were potentially lethal. Thus, the fear that a woman experienced during her pregnancy, as she looked toward the labor and delivery, is not comprehended in our day. The setting is entirely different. Dying is not in the equation!
As a man, the best example I can think of to picture how a woman likely felt before going into labor would be the feeling that a young soldier may have experienced prior to landing onto Omaha Beach on D-Day. You don’t have a choice, you’ve got to get out of the landing craft and hit the beach. But you realize that you may not make it. So it was for a woman. She had no choice. She had to deliver the baby. But she knew she may not make it!
Also today, labor still is very painful. But pain medicines and anesthetics are available. If things get out of hand there is a course that can bring needed relief. Obviously the pain remedies of old did not match up to the choices we have today.
Lastly in our day, if the labor isn’t progressing, if the cervix isn’t dilating, then medications are used to hasten the process. In fact, the average duration of active labor today is eight hours. And if a baby is too large to deliver, if it just won’t come out, a C-section can be done. In contrast, in olden days, labor was much longer, with forty hours being common! And if the baby wasn’t progressing forth, the mother and baby would die a slow and painful death after approximately seventy two hours of agony.
So it is in this light that we should examine the labor the Jesus.
The four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John give a detailed account of the passion of our Lord. God chose to use four different writers as the number four in the Bible is associated with the world. Truly, these four books speak to the entire Earth of the message of salvation. They indeed are inspired works which show varying views of Jesus’ life and of his death. In fact, by comparing scriptures from the gospels, when more than one narrative is given on a specific topic, we can get a better focus on the events, timing and course of Jesus’ last hours. The scholastic term for the process of putting the story together like a jigsaw puzzle is called “scripture buildup.”
Also helpful in putting together the four accounts is an understanding of the perspective each Gospel writer is revealing. The first gospel, the one penned by the apostle Matthew, reveals Jesus as the King from Heaven. It was written to explain Jesus to the Jewish people and Matthew consistently refers back to the Old Testament with nearly two hundred references. The term the “Kingdom of Heaven” is only used in Matthew. The genealogy of Jesus through King David is also emphasized in this wonderful gospel.
Mark’s gospel, which is the shortest, pictures Jesus as the Servant. Its primary audience is the Roman culture. No genealogy is given as one would not expect a servant to have a special lineage.
Luke portrays the Messiah’s humanness. He is writing primarily to the Greek world. In this gospel the genealogy of Jesus is connected with the first man, Adam. Jesus emphasizes himself as the Son of Man in this book.
Lastly, the Gospel according to John emphasizes Jesus’ divinity. His unity with the Father as the Son of God is its central view. This account starts out proclaiming that Jesus is the “Word made flesh” and ends with the statement that the world itself cannot contain the books that should be written about him. John obviously is writing with the whole world in mind!
With these opening remarks, let’s dive into the study of the gospel accounts of the Savior’s last hours. The study of how he labored to deliver the baby in ways that we, two thousand years later, do not fully appreciate. We will see that time and tradition have dimmed the memory of much of our Lord’s passion like a woman’s recall of the pain of labor is minimized after the joy of the baby’s arrival!
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The Valley Between The Mountains—Excerpts
Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: And ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned to joy. A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: But as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. And ye now therefore have sorrow: But I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you. John 16: 20-22
God is in the business of resurrection as was noted in essay III, entitled Sorrow to Joy. Jesus compared the trial that his disciples were to soon experience upon his passion to the travail of a laboring woman. But he also promised them that they would experience the joy that a new mother feels at the moment of her delivery when he returned to see them again. This principle of sorrow to joy, which we have seen illustrated previously, is a principle of life and it is a recurring theme in God’s Word. But there is another principle in life, as well as in the Bible, which is its antonym. And that is the standard that often after a victory will come a trial. Often after a mountaintop experience one will enter a valley of temptation. Often after delivering a baby a woman will get the blues!
This should not be surprising. For in the Bible, that God authored book that details life for you & me, we see countless examples of this phenomenon.
Jesus, after hearing his Father proclaim to the crowd witnessing his baptism that he was his beloved Son was driven by the Spirit into the wilderness (desert) where he hungered for forty days and forty nights. (You may remember that forty is the number associated with a trial in the Bible.) During our Lord’s time of testing he was attacked mercilessly by the Devil in a preview of his upcoming time of literal travail that he would experience three years later upon the completion of his first earthly calling.
Moses, after being rescued from death in the Nile River as a baby rose to a position of prominence & prestige in the court of Pharaoh. He had it all it would seem! But God of course was not through with him. He was driven, like Jesus, to the desert, that dry and lonely place of depression, for forty years while not knowing that his greatest days were still before him.
Abraham, the father of faith, waited fourteen years after receiving the joyous promise from God that he would be a father, through his wife Sarah, until he realized the arrival of Isaac, the promised child. During that time his faith was tested and wavered. Sarah convinced him that God must have meant that he was to father a child through her handmaid Hagar as time went by and the fulfillment of God’s word seemed not to be. Those must have been days of sadness and despair as they questioned God’s Word in their lives & his power over their lives!
Imagine the feeling David experienced upon defeating the giant Goliath. He was a true hero in Israel. Women were even singing songs to and about him of his potency and prowess. But then the other shoe fell! Saul, the king of the nation, became enraged with jealousy towards David and attempted to assassinate the champion on numerous occasions. Once again, the wilderness, that place picturing spiritual dryness, was the destination to which David was driven.
Paul the apostle must have felt incredible joy upon leading the storm tossed ship of two hundred eighty men to safety upon the rocky shores of Malta only to be attacked by a serpent (a Biblical picture of the Devil) while he was helping the group by collecting sticks for the fire on that cold & wet day.
Yes truly, often after a victory in life will come a trial. Will come a temptation. Will come an attack. Often after the emotional high of delivering the baby will come the despair & depression of the postpartum blues.
Trial after victory, that’s what this book is about. Specifically, I am going to address postpartum depression in detail, but just about everything I will say can be applied to any moment of despair, any time of attack, any time of trial that will come your way.
So let’s look at the baby blues.
The wonderful joy that a woman experiences upon the birth of a baby is accompanied by the elevation of the female hormones estrogen and progesterone to levels that are only reached during pregnancy. These two very important hormones are made by the placenta as the ovaries are quiescent during gestation. But as you probably know, soon after the baby is birthed the placenta will follow. Now the half-life of these two steroid hormones made by the placenta is about one day, therefore in two to three days after giving birth a woman’s chemical balance will be altered radically! Indeed the female hormones, which were heretofore at record levels for months, will now come crashing down to levels seen only before the onset of puberty or to later be experienced after the arrival of menopause! And please note, this is not a gradual change like those other two times in a woman’s life. This is nearly an instantaneous and precipitous drop in the feminine hormones. This is falling off a cliff!
Thus we should not be surprised that women suffer a significant physical challenge after their deliveries. Actually what surprises me, is that severe postpartum depression doesn’t manifest itself in every woman! For along with the hormonal fluctuations we must not forget the physical pain and injuries that most women experience from the delivery process as well as the many sleepless nights they experience as they worry about and extend themselves wholly towards the welfare of their newborns.
I think it is fair to say that due to these many factors, all women will note some difficulties after delivery. But doctors tell us that 7% of women suffer from what would be considered severe postpartum depression. By that they mean, depression to the degree that a woman would seriously consider either taking her own life or the life of her baby! Another 30% report moderate depression. This can be manifested by some combination of significant & recurrent emotional labiality, irritability, anger & hostility, anxiety & obsessiveness, lack of energy or extreme fatigue.
Fortunately, God in his Word has given us counsel for all of these symptoms. He has given us promises that his daughter must claim and cling too in order to overcome the trail.
Let’s look at a few of God’s words that may help when postpartum depression arrives, and for that matter when any type of despair presents itself.
Suicide: Have you felt like dying? Do you sometime just wish it could all end? Don’t feel alone. So did Paul & Elijah!
For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life: II Corinthians 1:8
Paul, writing about himself in the third person, admits that due to the intense persecution hurled his way in Turkey that he felt pressed out of measure & above strength. He despaired even of life itself.
We would say that he didn’t even think he could go on. He didn’t want to wake up in the morning. He didn’t want to eat, he just wanted to die!
Have you ever felt that way? Sometimes women experience those feelings a few weeks after bringing their babies home!
Paul was able to pull himself out of his mental tailspin though by remembering God’s promise of eternal glory which was still ahead.
For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: For the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. II Corinthians 4:16-18
Paul is reminding us of the obvious. Even though we feel like dying, even though our outward man (woman) is perishing, yet the inward man (woman) is renewed daily. That is, even though we feel like dying we are actually growing closer to God.
He goes on to say in the next verse that afflictions in life actually work on a spiritual level to produce a future infinite and everlasting weight of glory!
Therefore, Paul tells you & me in the third verse that we must take our eyes off our present despair and place them upon the future reality of glorious joy!
Elijah also felt suicidal. After seeing the four hundred prophets of Baal defeated as fire rained down upon the altar he built to the Lord upon Mt. Carmel, Elijah was intimidated by a message he received from the evil Queen Jezebel. She promised that she would have him assassinated by noon of the next day causing this great man of power & faith to flee to the desert.
There we learn;
But he (Elijah) went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: And he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; I Kings 19:4a
The suicidal prophet did the right thing in dialoging with his Maker while he was in his personal cave of depression. Reading the rest of the story gives insight to me for another way out of the suicidal thought pattern. For God didn’t speak to Elijah in the wind or the earthquake or the fire … God doesn’t “shout” deliverance to you & me. No, God spoke to Elijah in a still small voice (I Kings 19:12). Elijah heard the quiet voice of the Spirit and he comprehended God’s rhetorical question of “what the heck are you doing here in this cave, Elijah?” Then the Almighty graciously commissioned the prophet to get back into the game & reminded him that he wasn’t alone. Yahweh told Elijah to go to Damascus and anoint Hazel to be king over Syria and that there were still 7,000 in Israel who had not bowed the knee to Baal.
That’s how the Lord will deliver you & me in our day also when we find ourselves wanting to die. He will speak to me if I will listen to the still small voice. But I must quiet my heart as the noise of the World will drown it out if I surround myself with its chatter. It may be godly words from another person or it may be holy words directly from the Book he has given us. In the later case though, I must open it if I want to hear that voice!
Emotional labiality: Crying can be good for the soul. But in moderation, please! Sometimes postpartum women can find themselves crying over a literal glass of spilt milk!
This is the classic symptom of postpartum depression and is the direct result of the chemical imbalance occurring in the brain which I plan to soon discuss.
But first I must share Jesus’ words of comfort to the weeper.
Blessed are the poor in spirit: For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn: For they shall be comforted. Matthew 5:3-4
Also, I remember that he shares our pain. The Bible tells me in Isaiah 53 that he was a man of sorrows. It adds that he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. The shortest verse in the Bible, found in John’s Gospel, states that Jesus wept after he shared in the mourners anguish at the gravesite of Lazarus. Truly our Lord wants to comfort you in your time of despair. Somehow, on a level I don’t understand, yet I do believe, he actually shares in your sadness. And like Lazarus, the Healer is going to resurrect you in his time!
Irritability, Anger & Hostility: These unfortunate symptoms of depression in general and the baby blues in specific of course are not isolated to these conditions. They are the direct result of my carnal man ruling. The anger I feel bubbles up when I focus upon myself. It comes about when I live in the “me first” mode. Unfortunately, that’s much of the time! Of course, when the flesh is compromised by the hormonal imbalance of the postpartum time frame, well, the fuse just get shorter doesn’t it!
For the postpartum sufferer of irritability, anger & hostility, realize these symptoms for what they are…they are sin! Confess them and move on.
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I John 1:8-9
Oh! And stop dwelling upon yourself. If you must, you will continue to battle your anger!
Anxiety & Obsessiveness: These gruesome symptoms of depression will steal your peace & choke out your joy! Of course they are not limited to the baby blues and to depression in general but certainly it can be amplified during those times. Anxiety is the state of mind that will turn a good day into a bad one! For anxiety attempts to control the future but it does so by worrying about it in a negative sense. Anxiety is married to fear while their opposites, peace & believing are also bed partners!
You see, God knows the future, but I don’t. When I start to worry about my upcoming days what I’m really doing is demonstrating my lack of faith in his ability or willingness to provide and care for the very same things with which I concern myself. That’s silly when you think about it. When I presume that the God of Love will “drop the ball” on the details of my life I’m really just living outside of the realm of faith as I walk in fear, unbelief & negativity. That’s not what I want! I know that’s not what you desire either!
Happily, God’s Word is chock full of counsel for the worrier.
My favorite section that has helped me the most in my times of hopeless anxiety is found in Philippians. I recommend you underline this one in your Bible. No, better yet, this one should be memorized, as in a powerful way, it takes down the Devil & his henchmen when they attack!
Be careful (Old English for anxious) for nothing: but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. Philippians 4:6
Paul, through the Spirit states that I am to not worry about anything! Why, that’s not possible…unless I remember to do the rest of the verse. That is, in everything that might want to make me anxious, I must tell God about my needs through prayer & supplication with thanksgiving. Now it’s not as though God doesn’t know what I need, but he wants me to tell him about the problem as part of the antidote!
The usages of the three action verbs are beautiful as I understand them. “Prayer” is adoration towards God’s power, beauty & authority. It’s once again moving my mind off of myself! “Supplication” places the emphasis on my specific need or worry. On the very thing I am anxious about. “Thanksgiving” is the acknowledgement that I appreciate what he will do and understand that he is truly in control. It also confesses that what he does in my life will ultimately be the best for me! Prayer, supplication & thanksgiving…it’s a winning combination.
Now look at the result of God’s anti-anxiety formula.
And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:7
If I desire peace instead of worry & fear then I must remember these words of God. When I praise him, pray to him and thank him I will have peace that I don’t even understand. It will be like a river that flows by and off into the distance, so far that I can’t even see its end! And I won’t understand the peace because I don’t know the future. But the very thing I am anxious about will now flee away because I have given my worries over to the One who, not only knows the future, but holds the future!
Okay, this is great! Look at the next two verses. For they give not only the treatment for anxiety, but they give the cure!
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: And the God of peace shall be with you. Philippians 4:8-9
It’s a truth in life. I become what I think about. Especially if I do what I think about! If I think negative thoughts, if I worry about tomorrow…then guess what, what I fear will likely come to pass to my detriment. But if I think about things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous & praiseworthy and especially as I do what I’m thinking about, then the peace of God, that state of mind of undisturbed believing, shall be with me!
Now track with me for a moment. What are the only two entities that are clothed with the eight attributes listed above? Why the Lord & his Word. As I think upon Jesus & the Word I will become more like him and the peace will just roll in. So put your mind upon things above dear anxious or obsessive person. Do the things he tells you & you will have peaceful believing that you never imagined you could experience this side of eternity.
Fatigue: Oh how I hate this one! If anxiety steals my joy, then fatigue takes my life! For I miss life as I sleep it away in a cloud of incomprehension. In fact, as I’ve mentioned before, in God’s eyes sleep and death are just about the same. When I arise every morning I am living a spiritual illustration of the resurrection. Truly, on that day, Jesus will awake the sleepers! So as I miss life in the fog of fatigue…well, I’m really missing life!
So what does the Word say to the postpartum sufferer about this symptom?
Come to me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: And ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Matthew 11:28-30
It’s Jesus, my Redeemer, my Savior who brings rest. He tells me to take his yoke. What is a yoke? Well it’s the wooden harness that was used to join two oxen together so they could work in unison. In our Lord’s day, farmers would yoke a strong and a weak ox together to maximize their proficiency. Also, historians believe that Joseph & Jesus’ carpentry trade in Nazareth consisted of building yokes for this very purpose. So for Jesus to tell us to take his yoke means that he is telling us to let him help us! “Travel with me” is what he is saying!
“Learn of me”…Now that’s a statement that can be expounded upon! “Watch me, see what I’m doing” would be another way of putting it.
Well what was Jesus about?
First of all he lived in the present. He lived for today. That’s what I need to do. Slow down & lighten up are other ways to think about what Jesus is saying to do if I want rest for my soul. And be thankful. Jesus thanked his Father for everything. So must I.
Thus, as one suffers the symptoms of depression, that of wanting to end it all, or of being too emotional or of living with anger, hostility, anxiety and / or fatigue remember that God’s Word contains treatment options. Realize that godly men preceding us have also been to that cave of depression. Recall that Jesus has sorrowed as we have. Confess the sin of anger & hostility that wells up and get your mind off of self and onto others. Claim Philippians 4:6-8 and let your requests be made known unto God when anxiety knocks upon the door. And lastly learn of Jesus, follow Jesus, walk with Jesus and you will find rest for your soul.
Next, as I promised, I would like to take you through the basic science of depression. Let me explain to you the chemical imbalance which occurs inside the brain. Then after that, we can look at the current medical treatments available as well as make spiritual applications to those remedies.
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