Why Does it Hurt to Have a Baby?

This question could be answered in terms of biology. Biological science can tell us all about the process. It can teach us about the dilation of the cervix and the changes to the shape of the uterus. But what if there were deeper answers available?

More substantial and foundational answers to our questions about origin and purpose – questions like “why does it hurt to have a baby?” – can be found in the Bible. What does the Bible say about the pains of childbirth?

In the Beginning

When Adam and Eve rebelled against God’s commandment, partaking of the forbidden fruit, they earned punishment. Their punishment did not come from some sort of impersonal force or spiritual laws. God personally confronted them with their sins and pronounced a curse on them (Gen 3:8-19).

The curse included labor pains. Apparently, excruciating pain was not part of God’s original design for mothers.

Cruel Creator?

This scene, viewed in isolation, has led many to assume that God is cruel. After all, didn’t he know all along that we would sin?

But there’s another, more important, scene perhaps foreshadowed in this story. In the midst of God’s curses on man, woman, and serpent, we learn that the seed of the woman would bruise the head of the serpent (Gen 3:15). Many have seen here a reference to the coming Messiah.

God planned to send Jesus to die for the sins of the world from the beginning (1 Peter 1:19-20; Rom 16:25; Eph 3:9; 2 Tim 1:9-10). The Lord did not curse us and then leave us to suffer alone. He entered into our suffering and curse in order to deliver us from it.

God’s Pain in Childbearing

Motherly pain in childbearing mirrors God’s own pain in bearing children. He is the God who gives birth to us (Deut 32:18). And he does not do this painlessly.

In order for us to become God’s children (being born again from above) Jesus had to suffer great physical and spiritual travail. Without the new birth made possible through his suffering and death none of us would have been born into God’s family (John 3:5-15).

God took our curse on himself. Our shame became his shame. Our sweat became his. Our thorns crowned his head. He punished our sin only to then bear the punishment himself.  Somehow, like the mother who forgets her pain when she sees her newborn baby, God thinks we’re worth it.

The Church’s Pain in Childbearing

Having been born into God’s family we are invited to participate in the pain of bearing spiritual children. United with Christ, we begin to share his sacrificial love for our friends and neighbors. We join Jesus in prayer for them. We join the Holy Spirit in inviting them to God.

Childbirth still hurts. Sometimes it’s the pain of rejection. Sometimes it’s fasting. Almost always the birth only comes after much prayer. Sometimes there will be setbacks. Paul even talked about going into labor “again” for his children in the Lord (Gal 4:19). But when the new life comes all the pain is forgotten.

Thank you mothers for the pain your love for us has cost you.

Happy Mother’s Day!