A Womb With A View Series

A Womb with a View

Psalm 139

1/20/08

Rev. Brian Bill

Note: Elements of this message are taken from a sermon series I preached over eight years ago.

As I’ve pondered what’s behind the tremendous outpouring of support for those affected by the flood, I’ve come to the conclusion that this community in general and our church in particular, believe that people’s problems matter. Or to say it another way, because humans are made in the image of God we should help in any way that we can because nobody is a nobody and everyone is a someone! Therefore I decided to stay on track with our original plans for our Sanctity of Human Life emphasis because whether we’re talking about the preborn swimming around in amniotic fluid or people inundated by a flood of water, everyone matters to God.

In the first year I was here we were meeting as a staff on a Wednesday afternoon in the church library. A church member knocked on the door and asked if we were going to have AWANA that night because of all the snow. I smiled and said, “Of course we are.” He looked at me rather strangely and asked me again if we were going to cancel AWANA. I said, “Listen, I’m from Wisconsin, and we’re used to snow. We can’t just cancel things because of a few flurries.” He kind of shook his head and walked out of the room. About a half hour later, when our staff meeting was finished, a staff member came up to me and said, “Uh, Pastor, you better take a look outside.” When I took a look, I was stunned by all the snow. It was blowing like crazy and there was about 6 inches on the ground.

Rather sheepishly I said, “Oh, oh, I guess I hadn’t looked outside in awhile.” After consulting with a few people who have more wisdom than I do, we decided to cancel AWANA for the night – and I made a phone call to my friend to apologize for my anti-blizzard attitude. There are two explanations to my reaction. First of all, I’m a thick-headed cheesehead. And secondly, because I was in a room with no windows, and hadn’t studied the conditions, my response was based on misinformation.

I suspect that some of us today have a similar response about the topic of abortion. Maybe we’ve been in a room with no windows. It’s been awhile since we’ve taken a look at the conditions – and because of that, maybe we’re not in a position to make accurate declarations about the abortion storm swirling around us. In the thirty-five years that abortion has been legal in our country, more than 45 million babies have been killed, with more than 2,700 dying every day. Instead of looking outside, I want to urge you this morning to take a deep, penetrating look inside – where a heart is beating and lungs are waiting to be filled with air.

While King David was not able to see what we can see today, with the help of God’s divine ultrasound, we’re going to take a look into the womb, where we’re going to see God’s creative splendor displayed in the life of the preborn. David, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is allowed to take a peek into God’s prenatal care unit, and he sees something so mysterious, and so amazing, that it will forever change the way he looks at life. In this Womb with a View, God is intimately involved in the entire process.

Let’s look at Psalm 139:13: “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.” The word “for” indicates that this section explains the preceding 12 verses. We’re not going to take the time to study the first part of this Psalm so let me summarize it this way:

* Verses 1-6: God is omniscient – He knows all things, past, present and future, real and potential, and He knows them all at the same time.

* Verses 7-12: God is omnipresent – He’s everywhere present at the same time.

* Verses 13-16: God is also omnificent. Yes, this is a real word. It means, “unlimited in creative power.”

God Lovingly Created Us

The “you” here in verse 13 is emphatic – You created. There is no one else. God is intimately involved with our design, development and delivery. In short, He made us. It’s that simple. Because God is the creator, He is the owner of the preborn – they belong to Him.

I want you to notice how David uses personal pronouns in this verse – “my inmost being…knit me together in my mother’s womb.” There is no doubt that David believed that he was a real person long before he was born. When David says that God created his inmost being, he is recognizing God’s creative power and personal involvement in those things that are truly personal. In other words, he acknowledges the fact that God created his spiritual personhood.