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.
In addition to this, David declares that God created his physical personhood. We see this in the phrase, you knit me together. The picture here is that our bones, arteries, muscles, and everything else is all woven together into a beautiful tapestry. This word in Hebrew carries with it the idea of protection, which shows how precious the preborn is to God.
As David thinks about all this, it’s no wonder that he breaks out into praise! Take a look at verse 14: “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” The word “fearful” means to stand in awe or to cause astonishment. The word “wonderful” means distinct or separate. I love how intensely personal this language is – “I praise you…I am fearfully made…I know that full well.”
Friends, when we recognize God as the Creator of all things, especially of human life, praise is the proper response. When we see Him as our Creator, we can’t help but break out into spontaneous song and protracted praise. David is saying, “Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! It blows my mind to think about it. Your workmanship is marvelous – and how well I know it. I stand apart as something special – different from all other forms of life.”
The Bible prods us to consider the origin of human life as God sees it and to worship Him for what He does in the womb. We must respond with holy caution and with unwavering respect for the preborn because His stamp of approval is upon every human being – and He does not make junk. God places a high value on human life because we reflect His character – though at times rather vaguely. As a result, nobody is a nobody because everyone is a someone!
In verse 15 and the first part of verse 16, we see that God was there when we were being formed in utter seclusion: “My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body…” Nothing is hidden from God. He personally puts our skeleton in place and then creates all the delicate parts of our bodies, weaving them together to form His living masterpiece. The same God, who keeps His eye on the sparrow, also keeps His eyes on every human being as they grow and develop in the womb.
The word “woven” here is the word for “embroider.” God makes us according to a plan. He makes all the parts fit together just right so they support one another. And, because He is the Divine Embroiderer, unborn babies are intricate and complex, reflecting His beauty and are therefore special and precious in His sight. David here recounts the fact that God created him with purpose: “All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” When God creates, He does it with purpose. God didn’t just ordain our DNA; he ordained our days. It’s as if He has a divine Daytimer, into which He pre-recorded each day of our life – before we began to breathe!
Friends, based on both biblical and medical evidence, the conclusion is obvious: human life is sacred and stamped with dignity. As such, it is wrong to murder an innocent human being. To kill someone created in God’s image is to indirectly attack the God who created life. Abortion must be defined as the destruction of a human life in violation of the 6th Commandment: “You shall not commit murder.”
Implications
Several implications come to mind.
1. We need to watch our attitudes. Satan is the enemy of life, not doctors, people who are in favor of abortions, or politicians. It’s way too easy for us to become self-righteous, smug and condemning. As I’ve said before, we’re prone to get angry with people who sin differently than we do. We are often more caustic than Christian in our dealings with people. Instead of building bridges with those who are lost, our venom can erect long-standing barriers that end up isolating people from the gospel.
2. We need to balance our “prophetic” and “priestly” roles as believers. Friends, society’s views on abortion are changing but it takes time. William Wilberforce campaigned for 35 years to get rid of slavery in Britain. According to the Guttmacher Institute, the number of abortions in the U.S. last year fell to the lowest level since the procedure was made legal. One of the contributing factors for the decline is the changing attitudes about the moral implications of abortion. Christians are making a difference and we need to keep speaking out but we must also offer love and compassion to those who need help. We need to remember that the primary biblical call is to make disciples, not win arguments.
I’ll never forget an experience I had when I was a student at Moody Bible Institute. Every Saturday, several students from Moody would walk to an Abortion Clinic near the school to provide some sidewalk counseling to women who were headed to the clinic. Whenever we would go, there would be other pro-life groups gathered out in front as well. Some would be picketing, some would be shouting, while still others just came to pray.
On one particular Saturday, a Security Guard reminded us that we were not allowed to step on their property. All of us Moody students smiled and backed away. One man, however, who was carrying a bold sign, challenged the guard. The guard told him again to back off. The man refused. Finally the guard said that he would call the police if the man did not leave the property. The man then turned to the guard and said, “Well, you can just go to .”
I couldn’t believe it. Here this man, who was so committed to the sanctity of human life that he tried to keep women from aborting their babies, had no problem sending someone else to hell. I didn’t go back to that clinic for a long time.
3. We must be sensitive and non-judgmental toward those who have had abortions – and toward those who have encouraged abortions, like boyfriends or husbands. They are in need of grace and forgiveness, not condemnation. There may be some here this morning that have had abortions. This message was hard for you to hear. I want you to know that this church is a safe place for you. It is my deepest prayer that you will experience God’s redeeming grace and cleansing forgiveness. Abortion is not the unpardonable sin. Darcy Woodburn and Cindy Runyon are offering a Bible Study called, “Binding Up the Brokenhearted.” Call the church office for more information.
4. If we say that we’re pro-life, we must strive for consistency. We need to value all human life – the preborn, orphans, widows, the physically and emotionally challenged, the homeless, those with AIDS, the hungry, the poor, those in prison, and older people. I read a blog this week in which a pastor lamented that while we focus on the preborn one Sunday a year the church ignores matters of racism and bigotry. Tomorrow we recognize the dream of Martin Luther King, Jr. but let’s do what we can to make this dream a reality.
Let’s go back to the flood in Pontiac. According to Mike McKnight of the Red Cross, 783 homes, 57 mobile homes and 6 apartments have been damaged. Of these, 314 dwellings have had “major” damage. I’ve heard some officials estimate that it could take one to two years for people to get back on their feet. PBC has responded with immediate assistance but I wonder what God would have us as a church do on a long-term basis. PBC is pro-life; that means we need to be proactive in helping people put their lives back together. Why? Because nobody is a nobody and everyone is a someone!
Incidentally, if you’ve been keeping up with our New Testament Bible Reading Schedule, this week you read Matthew 10:42 which says: “And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward.” With the weather this weekend, a cup of hot chocolate might be better than a cup of cold water.
I’d like us to hear from Judy Dewald now about how God mobilized a group of PBC people over 20 years ago to start the Caring Pregnancy Center here in Pontiac. Judy is out of town today so we recorded her before she left. As you listen to her, ask God what He wants us to do in response to the flood.
--> DVD
Here are some present needs and dreams for the Caring Pregnancy Center.
* New board members who can be involved in building maintenance
* Counselors and receptionists
* A dream to have a home for pregnant girls
God Thinks About Us Constantly
As we wrap up, jump down to verses 17-18: “How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you.”
1. God’s thoughts are precious. Once again, David is overwhelmed as He contemplates the greatness of God. He doesn’t understand how God could think of him all the time. The word precious refers to expensive jewels. Do you know that God thinks of you – every second of every day?
2. God’s thoughts are numerous. If we were to try to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand on all the beaches of the world.
3. God’s thoughts are constant. God thinks about us all the time. “When I awake, I am still with you.” God doesn’t forget about us when we’re stressed or struggling or sleeping. I love Psalm 121:3-4: “He will not let your foot slip – He who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.”
God Searches Us Conclusively
God lovingly created us; He thinks about us constantly and finally, He searches us conclusively. Look at the last two verses of Psalm 139: “Search me, O God and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” This is a courageous and very dangerous prayer to pray. God wants us to invite Him to search our lives. The verb search is used for digging up valuable minerals in a mine. The term test is used of examining precious metals to prove their purity.
This week a friend stopped by from another town and asked how I was doing. I told him that I’ve been crying a lot about the devastation from the flood, that I feel empty and broken. He smiled and said, “Good. Now God can use you.”
While it is certainly a good idea to do some self-analysis, it is even better to ask God to examine us. Most of us, when examining ourselves, will arrive at the conclusion that we’re OK – or at least that we’re better than our neighbor or co-worker. In asking God to evaluate our lives, we are really inviting Him to do four things. I should warn you that this takes a great deal of humility:
* Search me. All of me; even my darkest secrets and deeds.
* Test me. To see if I am pure and true and see if I have any sluggishness or selfishness.
* Tell me. Let me know what you find.
* Help me. Show me how to correct my ways – lead me the right way.
Brothers and sisters, don’t be afraid to ask God to point out offensive stuff in your life. Allow Him to show you things that grieve Him, or bring pain to other people. When He exposes something, own it, confess it, and yield to the God who knows you intimately – and yet still loves you completely. Be willingly accountable to Him. As someone has said, “A good person desires to know the worst of himself.” Pastor Jeff pointed out that normal people want to know the worst about others.
Because God lovingly created us, thinks of us constantly, and searches us conclusively, we don’t feel spied on; we feel watched over. We feel secure. Having placed our confidence in Christ, no skeleton can come tumbling out of some hidden closet to expose our past and no character flaw can come to light that would make God turn away from us. He already knows everything about us – and still loves us! He knows our name – and nobody is a nobody because everyone is a someone!
Closing Song: “He Knows My Name”
