For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. 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; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, 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. (Psalm 139:13-18 NIV)
Why has human life become so cheap, so worthless? I think I know one reason why. There’s a children’s book that I read to our Bible class a couple months ago. It’s called Grandmother Fish. Anyone remember? It starts with a picture of a fish and says, “This is our Grandmother Fish. She lived a long, long, long, long, long time ago.” Next comes a reptile. “This is our Grandmother Reptile. She lived a long, long, long, long time ago.” Next, a mammal. “This is our Grandmother Mammal. She lived a long, long, long time ago.” Next, an ape. “This is our Grandmother Ape. She lived a long, long time ago.” Finally, a human. This is our Grandmother Human. She lived a long time ago. There’s so much more to the book. Colorful pictures. Engaging language. Even our evolutionary family tree, with insects and mollusks and sharks and all our other relatives.
And it all starts to make sense. The message is loud and clear: “You’re an animal. And you’re an accident. You’re here completely by chance. Your life has no greater purpose other than to maybe slowly evolve into something else millions of years from now.” That’s the message. Then you look around, and it all starts to make sense. Why is human life so cheap, so worthless? An octopus can lay 100,000 eggs at one time. If most of those babies don’t survive, it doesn’t matter. When a dog is past its usefulness, when it’s old, what do you do? You put her down. When the buffalo herd at Yellowstone grows too big—this is happening right now—what do you do? You cull the herd. So… If a pregnancy was a mistake, what should we do? End it. If an elderly person is no longer a productive member of society, what’s it time to do? Put her down. When the world fills up with people, it’s no loss to have a few million die from disease. Culling the herd, right?
We teach people they are animals. So we shouldn’t be surprised when people act like animals. We teach people they are accidents. So we shouldn’t be surprised when people feel like accidents. We teach people that life is meaningless. So we shouldn’t be surprised when life feels meaningless. It all makes sense, doesn’t it? Why has human life become so cheap, so worthless? We live in the dark world that we have created. Where we kill babies and ourselves. Agree?
Today, I want you to know that God has a totally different message for you. In our meaningless, violent, messed up world, you need to believe God’s Word. “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” What a difference from “Grandmother Fish”! King David says, “God, you created me. You did it. I’m not an accident. I am fearfully and wonderfully made. I am not here by chance. You created my inmost being. You did it, God. You!” How does that sound? You need this! You’re not an accident. You’re not an animal. You are fearfully and wonderfully made by God.
And I love how the Bible describes God like an old lady. Did you catch that? It says, “You knit me together.” That makes me think of our Pins and Needles group here at church. Have you ever watched someone knit something? It’s a “labor of love.” Piece by piece. Stitch by stitch. The patience. The care. This is why I don’t knit. I’ll just buy that pillow case at Walmart! That’s easier, right? But what’s the difference? No love. No heart. No compassion. When you get that hand-made whatever it is from your grandmother, you don’t say, “This will keep me warm.” Or, “this will dry the dishes.” You think, “She cares about me. She loves me. Here is the proof!”
God is like that grandmother. God didn’t pick you out at some Walmart in the sky. You’re not massed produced. You are hand-made by God. God made you you. He knit you together. Stitch by stitch. Piece by piece. God made you male or female. God made you tall or short. Funny or serious. You are fearfully and wonderfully made. Uniquely you. God doesn’t want you to be somebody else. He knit you just the way you are. You are fearfully and wonderfully made!
King David realized that. “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.” There’s nothing more amazing than the secret world of how a baby develops. How hands form and hearts beat and lungs breathe and gallbladders… I don’t even know what they do! But God was there. Just because we can see it on an ultrasound now doesn’t make it any less of a miracle! And here’s the critical word: “I.” Who was in the womb? “I.” David got what so many people today miss: “That was me. From the moment of conception. It wasn’t a thing. That was me. Already in the womb, that was me!”
But God didn’t stop in the womb. Perhaps the most amazing statement is what comes next: “All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” Before God sat down in his rocking chair to lovingly knit you together, he wrote down every day of your life in his book. God knew when the break-up was going to happen. He knew when the sickness was going to start. He knew when your baby was going to be born. He knew it. He knows it. Not only aren’t you an accident, but no day of your life is an accident. No blessing or trial or joy or struggle is a random occurrence. It’s all part of his plan. It’s all under his control.
That made David feel so good! “How precious to me are your thoughts, 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.” Want to feel loved? Want to feel precious? Think about God’s thoughts: “I knit you together. I’ve planned out your life. Every day when you wake up, I am with you.” Isn’t that good? Don’t believe the great lie of evolution. “I will praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” God loves human life—from the moment of conception to heaven.
So why don’t we? “What do you mean?” you say. “I’m pro-life! I’m all for life too!” I’ve heard a criticism of Christians who claim to be pro-life. You know what it is? “You say you’re pro-life, but you only care about the unborn. What about the people who are alive? What about the people all around you?” Are they right? So you’re pro-life, huh? Why don’t you ever talk to that person sitting behind you? How can you see people hurting or sick or in need and not care one bit? Why are you so happy when that one person suffers? Is this hitting home? “I am pro-life!” It’s easy to love a baby you’ll never meet. It’s hard to love the person sitting next to you. See what I mean?
Do you know why that is? There is a strange connection in the Bible. The same person—King David—wrote this Psalm 139 and Psalm 51. We read Psalm 51 as our confession of sins today. “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me” (Psalm 51:5). “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” So which is it? It’s both. God wonderfully created you, but from the moment you were conceived, there has been another power at work in you. Sin! We are created by God, but corrupted by sin, from the moment of conception. You were sinful from birth. Me too! My desires aren’t God’s desires. My thoughts aren’t God’s thoughts.
Are you willing to confess that? God is the perfect Creator. I am sin. God is the perfect designer. I am a wrecking ball. God is pure. I am dust. Do you see that? These two powers at work in the world? It’s 100% true to say, “I am fearfully and wonderfully made” by God himself. True! But it’s also 100% true to say, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” True! Sin shows itself greatest in how we treat other human beings. And the way we treat other human beings is a sad indicator of what we really think of God who created them. You are responsible to a Creator. You will stand before God. How will he not squash us like bugs?
Because he became one of us. If you have any doubt about the sanctity of human life, consider this: God became a human being the moment Jesus was conceived. God let himself be knitted stitch by stitch in Mary’s womb. That’s amazing! Imagine you find a frog in your garage. Being the kind person you try to be, you gently pick the frog up and take it back outside. You save it! That’s what Jesus did. Except, he didn’t just pick the frog up. He became a frog. Would you do that? But he didn’t just become a frog. He died for frogs everywhere. And you’re thinking: This is so silly! Why even talk like that! Why would I even remotely consider dying for a frog?
That’s what Jesus did. There is a way bigger difference between God and us than there is between you and a frog. But Jesus became one of us. He lived in our place. He died our death. That’s how much God loves life! Enough to give his life for us. That’s why we sang, “My worth is not in what I own, not in the strength of flesh and bone, but in the costly wounds of love at the cross.” Can you see your worth at the cross of Jesus? God knit you together. God planned out every day of your life. And God died for every one of your sins. The power of sin is broken at the cross. Sin doesn’t rule over you. Jesus does. He gives you life and meaning and purpose.
Jesus’ grace is what makes Christians pro-life. Starting with the unborn. It has nothing to do with politics. It has everything to do with Jesus. No human life is a mistake. No matter who is involved, no matter what sin was committed, every life is a wonderful creation of God. We want every baby to be born. So that every baby can be baptized into God’s family. So that every child can grow up and hear about Jesus’ love for them. So that every person can one day live in heaven through faith in the Way—Jesus Christ. Jesus’ grace is what makes Christians pro-life.
But not just for the unborn. Every person is fearfully and wonderfully made. Every person needs God’s grace. The world sucks us dry. Sin wears us down. Being pro-life means being pro-people. Start with whomever is next to you. Turn to somebody and say, “You are fearfully and wonderfully made.” Now somebody else, “You are fearfully and wonderfully made.” That’s not a lie. That is the truth. You don’t come from Grandmother Fish. You come from the Almighty God. Say that to people. “You are special. You are loved. You matter. Because of Jesus.”
But not just other people. Do you know the person in your life who most needs the gospel every single day? You do. So now say it to yourself: “I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” That’s not pride or arrogance. It’s trust in God’s promise. “I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” When you struggle with who you are, remind yourself, “I am fearfully and wonderfully made” by God himself. When you feel worthless, you have worth. When you feel purposeless, you have purpose. When life looks meaningless, you have meaning. Because God loves human life, and that means that God loves you. So say it with me again: “I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”
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