Micah 4:9 Now why dost thou cry out aloud? is there no king in thee? is thy counsellor perished? for pangs have taken thee as a woman in travail.

Micah describes the pangs of new birth into the kingdom of God. There is a similitude of births of water and the spirit. Both are announced in travail. Beyond this we can only look upon these events in others because we ourselves do not remember that moment of birth.

Water birth happens and the baby comes forth crying from the womb. As the baby is laid upon the mother’s chest, the baby hears the mother’s heartbeat. Suddenly a calm comes over the child like a miracle. All the pain of birth is forgotten once the child hears that familiar heartbeat that had been so close and familiar all those months.

Can I remember any such event in my new birth? No, I do not recall any such miracle at that moment of new birth. Decades removed from that moment, I cannot pin down that event to any one moment. As Micah points out, when did the King enter in? When did my counselor first speak to me?

Remember back to My Witness and the anger that left me. Was that the moment of my new birth? I wasn’t aware at the time of an event called being born again. All I knew was the travail and the end of it. If the King entered in then, why did He not announce Himself? If my counselor was there, why didn’t He announce the coming of my King? Why were they silent? Or were they?

Comparing births again, water and spirit, what is priority number one? This babe is helpless and needs the mother and father to supply every need. Babes do not even know how to ask for things. We cry and it is the parent’s responsibility to discover why the baby is crying and to meet its needs.