https://thepreachersword.com/2019/03/20/a-passage-to-ponder-psalm-13913-16/#more-13705
A Passage To Ponder: Psalm 139:13-16
In recent weeks there has been a backlash and vocal outrage over lawmakers proposing and state legislatures passing bills allowing third-trimester abortions up to the moment of birth. As a result, there are some encouraging signs.
A recent court ruling approved an Indiana law that the sale of aborted baby body parts is now illegal. According to the law, a “person who intentionally acquires, receives, sells, or transfers fetal tissue commits unlawful transfer of fetal tissue, a level 5 felony.”
Last week a federal appeals court, with a 11-6 majority vote, upheld an Ohio law that strips Planned Parenthood of state funding, handing pro-lifers in the state a major victory three years after the law was passed.
On Tuesday the Mississippi legislature sent a bill to Gov. Phil Bryant’s desk Tuesday that would ban abortions after an unborn baby’s heartbeat is detectable.
Since research shows that a baby’s heartbeat may begin as early as 18 days after conception, the bill, if enacted, would effectively ban almost all abortions in Mississippi.
“It’s time to pass a Heart Beat Bill in Mississippi and stop this madness about when life begins,” Bryant said in January.
LifeNews.com reports that at least 91 babies have been saved from abortion during a“40 Days For Life Campaign” which began March 6th. Through prayer, fasting, peaceful vigil, and community outreach these local campaigns draw attention to the evil of abortion and seek to “turn hearts and minds from a culture of death to a culture of life, thus bringing an end to abortion.”
The Pro-Life position is a Biblical position. While there are many passages that speak of the unborn, not a fetus or clump of cells, but as a person, none is clearer than David’s reflections in Psalm 139:13-16.
For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there were none of them.
This passage reminds us that human life is special. Unique. And God-given. We are not the product of evolutionary chance. We are “fearfully and wonderfully made.” One version says “delicately formed.”
The Message, a paraphrase, expresses verse 16 this way.
Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;
all the stages of my life were spread out before you,
The days of my life all prepared
before I’d even lived one day.
This passage reminds us that life is sacred. Precious. And begins in the womb. God regards the life in the mother’s womb, not as mere tissue, but as a baby. A person. An unborn human being with divine purpose and potential.
When we disregard the sanctity of human life, there are consequences. Physical. Mental. Spiritual. And emotional consequences. Consider the heart-breaking remorse of this 21 year old woman.
“I recently had an abortion. At first I wanted it over with; now I’m very upset I made that choice. My boyfriend and I thought abortion was the best choice. But it’s not… It hurts me every day. There hasn’t been a day go by that I haven’t balled my eyes out. I wish I had my baby back. I’ve kept this to myself because I’m ashamed. I feel alone and hurt. My baby would have been so beautiful, and I killed it…”
While we live in perilous times, there is hope. And help. Let us share God’s message of life. Light. And love. It can make a difference in the life of a child. And a soul saved for eternity.
–Ken Weliever, The Preacherman