Afraid? I was born for this!
“Well, go ahead - twist and scream, Daughter of Jerusalem. You are like a woman in childbirth. You’ll soon be out of the city, on your way and camping in the open country. And then you’ll arrive in Babylon. What you lost in Jerusalem will be found in Babylon. God will give you new life again. He’ll redeem you from your enemies. But for right now, they’re ganged up against you, many godless peoples, saying, “Kick her when she’s down! Violate her! We want to see Zion grovel in the dirt.” These blasphemers have no idea what God is thinking and doing in this. They don’t know that this is the making of God’s people, that they are wheat being threshed, gold being refined. On your feet, Daughter of Zion! Be threshed of chaff, be refined of dross. I’m remaking you into a people invincible...”
Don't these verses put fire in your heart and steel in your veins? When I read these verses, I see FOUR things:
Understanding
Reality
Encouragement
A War Cry
Understanding
The Lord understands that some of the situations we find ourselves in require us to "twist and scream." He gives us permission to go ahead and let it all out! After all, we are pregnant with great destiny, and it must take a lot of "twisting and screaming" to birth something great. Don't be ashamed of the struggle to give birth. There is no shame in the struggle!
Reality
The city is a place with lots of people, noise, confusion, busyness, temptation, etc. Our lives are full of so many things; perhaps too many things. But, we will soon be out of the city. Is the open country any better? No! Wild animals, loneliness, fear, danger from the elements, etc. We are in the city on the way to the country. From the oven to the frying pan so to speak. Things do not look so good right now; actually, we do not look so good right now! No matter where we find ourselves, city or country, Micah lets us know that our enemies are ganged up against us, with nothing good to say about us and nothing but bad thoughts about us running through their heads. The words out of their mouths are curses. Do not ever doubt that the enemy hates us.
Encouragement
But God! God will give us new life again. He will redeem us from our enemies! Today may not look so hot, but so what?! The trials and persecution of today are threshing us like wheat and refining us like gold. Those things are the making of us, so ARISE! The persecution is showing us where the chaff is, so see we can shake it off. The trials are bringing the dross up to the surface, so we can scrape it off.
Way Cry
"I'm remaking you into a people invincible..." - That is what the Message Version says and it gets me excited! The question is, how is He doing this? That question is answered when you read the other versions of the verse: "For I will give you iron horns and bronze hooves, so you can trample many nations to pieces." Everything we need to be invincible, He will provide for us! Those enemies that want us to fail, will be trampled to pieces with the weapons of our warfare. Arise, shout (war cry) and go to war my sisters! The word invincible means unshakable, so stand sure. It means unbeatable so stand supreme. It means unconquerable, so stand victorious. It means indomitable so stand strong!
“I am NOT afraid! I was BORN TO DO THIS!”