You Saw Me Before I Was Born

Psalms 139:13-16, Jeremiah 1:5

I attend a church where the pastors are not afraid to take on the cultural norms of the day and call them out for what they are - an affront to God. This past weekend, the message was about a topic that has been at the forefront of the news lately - abortion.

I used to be one of those people who thought abortion was an acceptable form of birth control, but as my focus has changed from myself to my God, I now understand that it is morally wrong.

The pastor pointed out that a big question about the legality of abortion has always been “when is a fetus a human being?” Even now, the states in which abortion is legal are not of one mind about when an abortion is no longer permitted: some allow abortions until a heartbeat can be detected, others have a seemingly arbitrary time limit like six or twelve weeks into the pregnancy, while others like my home state of Colorado have “no limit”. In other words, a pregnant woman in Colorado can wait up until birth to decide to kill her baby.

For believers, the Old Testament offers a solid answer to this question:

“You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭139:13-16‬ ‭NLT‬‬

In the book of Jeremiah, God speaks to the prophet with these words:

“I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.”

‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭1:5‬ ‭NLT‬‬

These are not the only places in the Bible where God’s plan for humanity is laid out plainly in front of us. Life doesn’t begin at conception, at birth, or anywhere in between. It began before time and will go on for eternity. This mortal life we are experiencing at this point is simply a small window in time during which God gives us the opportunity to know Him, worship Him, love Him, honor Him, and demonstrate our utmost respect for all of His creation.

Photo by Volodymyr Hryshchenko on Unsplash