Wisdom Wednesday
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
In the ancient pagan world, disabled, illegitimate or unwanted children were often left in forests or on the edge of mountains to die. Still today, in some countries, girl children are killed at birth due to the economic burden the present. In many countries, it’s now possible to test unborn children for the likelihood of disability and for some time now children have been aborted as a result.
How should we feel about this? How should we think about issues related to the value of human life? What is the value of human life? Should we believe as the biological ethicist, Peter Singer suggests, “killing a newborn baby is never equivalent to killing a person.” Or that any human is no more or less valuable than a kangaroo?
The Bible gives us a very different story.
Psalm 139 tells us that before we were born, God had ordained every day of our life. Genesis 1 tells us that humans are those that have received the very ‘breath of God’ that gives them life and who have been made in the likeness of God.
In John 3:16, Jesus says that God so loved the world that He gave His Son.
Why is gold valuable? It’s not because it’s overly useful (I’m aware this has changed to an extent). Gold has always been valuable because it was declared to be.
Human life has value. Not because of our biological makeup. Not because of our mineral content. Not because we are the most highly evolved creature. But because God declares us so.
What about the disabled and economically burdensome girl children? What about the unborn child? Well, Psalm 139 reminds us that it is not simply our body that makes us human. We existed in the ‘secret place’. Long before we were born.
I’m aware that for some readers, this may be a very painful topic and for a variety of reasons. For some, it’s crucial to remember that forgiveness for every sin can be found in Jesus Christ. For others, remember that there is hope in Jesus of meeting those we have lost.
Thankfully, God values human life the way that we should and even more than we do.
For Today:
Pray: Praise the Father that He is love and that He created us in love. Give thanks for Jesus who redeems sinners and died for sinful humans. Ask God for His Holy Spirit to help you and others value human life, particularly when it costs us.
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
In the ancient pagan world, disabled, illegitimate or unwanted children were often left in forests or on the edge of mountains to die. Still today, in some countries, girl children are killed at birth due to the economic burden the present. In many countries, it’s now possible to test unborn children for the likelihood of disability and for some time now children have been aborted as a result.
How should we feel about this? How should we think about issues related to the value of human life? What is the value of human life? Should we believe as the biological ethicist, Peter Singer suggests, “killing a newborn baby is never equivalent to killing a person.” Or that any human is no more or less valuable than a kangaroo?
The Bible gives us a very different story.
Psalm 139 tells us that before we were born, God had ordained every day of our life. Genesis 1 tells us that humans are those that have received the very ‘breath of God’ that gives them life and who have been made in the likeness of God.
In John 3:16, Jesus says that God so loved the world that He gave His Son.
Why is gold valuable? It’s not because it’s overly useful (I’m aware this has changed to an extent). Gold has always been valuable because it was declared to be.
Human life has value. Not because of our biological makeup. Not because of our mineral content. Not because we are the most highly evolved creature. But because God declares us so.
What about the disabled and economically burdensome girl children? What about the unborn child? Well, Psalm 139 reminds us that it is not simply our body that makes us human. We existed in the ‘secret place’. Long before we were born.
I’m aware that for some readers, this may be a very painful topic and for a variety of reasons. For some, it’s crucial to remember that forgiveness for every sin can be found in Jesus Christ. For others, remember that there is hope in Jesus of meeting those we have lost.
Thankfully, God values human life the way that we should and even more than we do.
For Today:
- What do you think about the value of human life?
- Have you ever considered adopting or fostering children?
- Pray for those people being devalued in our world.
Pray: Praise the Father that He is love and that He created us in love. Give thanks for Jesus who redeems sinners and died for sinful humans. Ask God for His Holy Spirit to help you and others value human life, particularly when it costs us.
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