Spiritual Midwives

• EXODUS 1:1-21
In this text we encounter the following situation:
o An unnamed Pharaoh inflicts affliction upon God’s people;
o God’s people increase;
o The unnamed Pharaoh commands the midwives to kill the baby boys born to Hebrew women;
o The midwives fear God, not man;
o Their response cancels out death by bringing forth life;
o God is pleased with the midwives and blesses them with families.

Let us be abundantly clear on this point: there is an UNNAMED PHARAOH (ruler) who is out to destroy the baby boys of God’s chosen people. This is the baby boy coming out of the womb, the unborn male child, and the baby boy hidden within the grown man. As it was then, so it is now, for there is nothing new under the sun. This unnamed ruler inflicts and afflicts God’s people; when that fails, he resorts to murderous plots. Yet his error is in his command, for it is given to the midwife. It is to the midwife that we turn, for in understanding this text, we understand that the Spirit of God is moving to and fro, searching for His midwives. Our Father is calling some of His daughters to be spiritual midwives.

Let us identify the characteristics of a midwife:
• She is filled with beauty and splendor, for Shifra and Puah’s names contained those attributes.
• Her motive is the fear of the Lord. She is willing to risk civil disobedience when commands would cause her to sin.
• She sees who is pregnant and is attendant to life. She sees the pregnancy of promise in the imprisoned. She sees the birth pangs of gang members. She sees what others miss and judge: seed placed within family outcasts; hope among the homeless; last trimester anointing within marriages. The midwife sees the expecting man.
• She is trained and ready for the birthing process, as it is her vocation.
We also know the midwife has a distinct role. Our next verse identifies that role and the tools of the midwife.

• EZEKIEL 16:4
The role of the midwife is defined in this text. She carries out the following functions:
o She cuts the navel cord of the newborn, allowing the baby to breathe on his own. She severs the cord disconnecting the old to make room for the new. She cuts the generational cord of crime, violence, gangs, poverty, violence, and death. She severs dependency so young adults can be walk on their own. She cuts the cord allowing oxygen to flow from one generation to the next. The things that must be severed, she severs; so new life can be sustained.
o The midwife washes the baby in water. She cleanses and purifies him in the washing. The midwife prays cleansing prayers and purifying prayers. She encourages the baptisms of water: salvation and the Holy Spirit. She washes the baby boy in the water of the word. She sees her husband, sees that no one took the time to wash him as a child. She prays the washing prayers over him at night while he is asleep. And so, she gently washes his hands, his feet.
o Third, the midwife rubs the newborn with salt. Salt is a preservative, symbolizing faith and loyalty. The salt impedes natural leavening, or sin. She preserves and protects this new life through her actions. She prays for the child to be sanctified by the truth, Jesus Christ. She calls forth life from the dead places. She prays for Lazarus resurrections among the bloodstained streets.
o Finally, the midwife wraps the baby boy with swaddling clothing. By so doing, she provides covering and warmth for the child. Her intercession in her secret place hedges the baby boy in safety. Her persistence touches Father’s heart to respond out of His love for His children. She demonstrates the gospel with her acts of love. She wraps up in protection the little boy screaming to come out of the middle-aged man. She comforts with blankets the child found in the eyes of the death row inmate. She picks up a well-worn covering to wrap around the unborn child.
She is a midwife. This is her vocation, her calling. She uses the tools of her trade: the scissors; the water; the salt; and the swaddling cloths. She severs, washes, preserves, and protects. What the world has deeded as dead, she proclaims as alive. She has been given the eyes of the heart of Father. She has been given a voice for the voiceless. She fears the Lord above all else. Such a reverent love for God enables her to do something extraordinary. We find it identified in the next Scripture.

• JEREMIAH 31:22
“The Lord has created a new thing: a woman shall encompass a man.” In the context of the midwife, God ordained that a woman would surround a man. She does this with the washing, preserving, and protecting the life that has been birthed. Her love encompasses the little boy inside the man. Her prayers surround the young teen male struggling to know who he is in this world. Her actions of honoring and preferring another, yea, even the lowly, allow for the exaltation of her King – her Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, honor and preference encompass the baby boy that the unnamed Pharaoh seeks to destroy. God’s given honor and preference shall win the day and hedge the boy in to the presence of God.

The midwife encompasses a man. The man is defined Biblically as the following:
• A champion;
• A hero;
• A warrior;
• A mighty man.

The man, the men we encompass are filled with strength and bravery. The lost little boys have hidden courage and buried strength. It is in them it is deep within them. The midwife calls it forth. She speaks forth that which is good and has been unknown to the child who has lived in fear. She mines the treasure of the man. She cancels the words of destruction and death with her expressions of construction and life. Her voice is that of wisdom, and it her wisdom that encompasses the man.

As a midwife, we can see the quiet father as a champion of his family. We call hero the grandfather who has lost his wife. We recognize the newborn child as a mighty man of God. We see the least likely as the warriors. This is exemplified in the final verse.

• JUDGES 6:12 AND 15
God chose this least likely man, Gideon, to be His mighty man of valor. Gideon told God that he was the least (youngest) in his family, which was from the weakest clan in the tribe of Manasseh. The tribe of Manasseh was considered as a forgettable tribe, derived from the meaning of Manasseh’s name. We recall that when Joseph brought Manasseh and Ephraim before Jacob for their blessing, Jacob placed his right hand on
Ephraim. This was done despite the fact that Ephraim was the younger brother. Jacob conferred the greater blessing upon the younger child. Thus, even though Manasseh was the firstborn son, he did not receive the firstborn blessing. He was, in a sense, forgettable.
Gideon could relate to this, as he did not think much of himself, yet the Angel of the Lord said, “The Lord is with you.” Gideon was exactly the person the Lord was looking to use! He chose this cowardly appearing man to defeat the Midianites. God saw greatness in Gideon and he was called forth as the valiant warrior. Gideon went from coward to charismatic leader. He came from the hidden place to prominence.
God is rising up Gideons and the unnamed Pharaoh is seeking to kill them. There is a generation of Gideons hidden within the street gangs. God wants to bring them from the hidden place to prominence in the Kingdom. God wants to use the midwives to accomplish it. Father wants to show the midwife the man fearful of losing his job, who is expectant with fear of the Lord. Father is looking for the midwives who will cry out for His baby boys in the waiting rooms of clinics, awaiting life aborted. He is searching for the women who will enter the delivery room – who will cut the cord so new life can be established. He awaits the woman who will wash the runaway boy with her tears. He asks for the midwife to rub His holy preservative upon the Pastor who has struggled and suffered. He looks for a woman who will encompass a forgotten man with her love, her prayers, and her words of life. Father has blankets in His hands to give to those women who will wrap and protect the infant son dying of hunger, dying of AIDS, dying in genocide. For all the dying, God is crying out. God is asking for His daughters to step forward and take the tools of the midwife. He wants to commission them to bring forth life in their marriages, in their husbands, in their sons. God is strategically placing midwives around the world as He has created a new thing: a woman shall encompass a man. The Gideons will come out of the gutters. God’s people will be protected and they will increase. And Father will be pleased with the midwives, building for them a family.