Psalm 139 & Abortion

Psalm 139: 13-16 has plenty to say about life- the life of the unborn baby. For christians, these verses should help us to understand Gods thoughts on life in the womb. For the Christian, abortion is not just a political issue. It's not something just to think about when you are faced with an unplanned pregnancy (although that's a great time to figure it out). It's something that we should have a biblically grounded stand on (with a heart of grace & love as well) Read the following verses asking, "What does God have to say about life in the womb?"

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.

For women who are pregnant, God is forming and knitting those children together in the womb. God even sees the days of their lives and had them planned out even before they came to be. God sees their unformed substance even if we claim, they are not souls. I like a definition of a soul/ person that one man gave. He said it was "someone known by God." And doesn't God know all of his creation- even the "hidden frames" and "unformed substance"? Something to think about.

A people yet to be created

Another awesome verse from the psalms telling the coming generation:

Let this be recorded for a generation to come, so that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord; that he looked down from his holy height; from heaven the Lord looked at the earth, to hear the groans of the prisoners, to set free those who were doomed to die, that they may declare in Zion the name of the Lord, and in Jerusalem his praise, when peoples gather together, and kingdoms, to worship the Lord. Psalm 102: 18-22

What a great verse! We tell the coming generation that a Holy God looked down from Heaven to save a sinning, broken people-helpless prisoners. We tell them that though He is Holy, He chose to save those that were doomed to die. We tell them that God did this, so that we might declare His name, give him praise and worship Him. The God who saved a doomed people wants our praise. How can they praise this God if they do not know? We must tell the coming generation.

Tell the Coming Generation

Lately reading the Old Testament has been so fun! There have been amazing pictures of Jesus and continuous themes of God being holy, good and gracious-not to mention his faithfulness. It’s equally exciting to read through scripture like the Psalms and see verses that command us to tell the coming generation of his glorious deeds. So since I’ve been lacking in posts lately, whenever I find one, I’ll share it here. Today is one of my favorites (that’s actually titled “Tell the Coming Generation) Psalm 78: 2-7:

I will open my mouth in a parable;

I will utter dark sayings from of old

Things that we have heard and known,

that our fathers have told us.

We will not hide them from their children,

but tell to the coming generation

the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might,

and the wonders that he has done.

He established a testimony in Jacob

And appointed a law in Israel,

which he commanded our fathers

to teach their children,

that the next generation might know them,

the children yet unborn,

and arise and tell them to their children,

so that they should SET THEIR HOPE IN GOD

and NOT FORGET THE WORKS OF GOD

but KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS…

May we all have children in our life so that we can tell the coming generation of God’s glorious deeds, his might, and His wonders so that eventually they would put their hope in the glorious, mighty and wonderful God & keep his commandments…

Psalm 88 & Suffering

Out of the whole year, summer is when I get to spend the most time with my husband. That means instead of writing posts in the evenings I’ve been spending time with my hunny-bun. That doesn’t mean I haven’t had things that I’ve been wanting to write about though! Today I want to tell you guys just a bit about a book I just finished reading. OMG (and I don’t use that often) it was amazing! Suffering and the Sovereignty of God is the name of it (Piper & Taylor). Basically it answers these questions: Is God really in control when bad things happen? Is God still good and perfect when those things happen? To put it simply: Yes & Yes.


But not only is God in control and good and perfect he is there in the pain and suffering. Up until recently the biggest pain that I’ve had in my life had been the death of my grandpa in high school and a bad break-up a few years ago. You may be able to relate. It was God’s word-specifically the Psalms-that kept my head above water. I couldn’t get enough of them. They described exactly what I was feeling.

David Powlison discusses suffering, psalms, and God in a chapter entitled “Waiting for the Morning.” He uses Psalm 88 to talk about the depth of pain. In the psalm, one can see the writer is so full of troubles he feels near his death. His eyes even grow dim through sorrow. In his sorrows and pain he feels helpless. This chapter is pretty depressing b/c it doesn’t end with a “Yet you are the God of my salvation.” Nope, no joyful triumph here. It ends with the author describing how God has caused his friends not to just leave him but shun him-they are as darkness to him. Powlison goes on to say what is remarkable about this Psalm is that it seems right-on with pain. Are these not the things that grief and pain do to us? They are. But why is something so depressing in the bible? Well, in short it’s so that when we doubt that God is listening, we will see “that what we are feeling is normal.”

Let me leave with you with this excerpt from the chapter:

"God cares about us in the midst of pain. His goal isn’t just to get us out of the pain to joy; he also wants us to see that he is for us and with us in the pain. It is true that weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes in the morning (Ps. 30:5). The morning will dawn and God will remove every tear (Rev. 21:4), but God is not just concerned about the morning, the new day when you can shout for joy. He is with us even in the night when there is nothing but weeping, when the tears are so think that we can’t see. When we are in the deepest pit and darkness weighs on our souls and God feels so absent that we wonder if he is even real, this psalm reminds us that he is with us even then."

Jesus is bigger than my sins

Psalm 106 is amazing. It talks about God’s steadfast love even when Israel was rebellious and unfaithful. It has been an encouragement and a beautiful reminder of God’s grace. This part (v36-39) in particular really blows my mind:

They served idols, which became a snare to them. They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons; they poured innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted with blood, thus they became unclean by their acts, and played the whore in their deeds.

The Israelites had become beyond unclean! Their sins against God seem to be the worst of the worst. Not just murdering (as sinful and evil as that is) but murdering children- in the name of idolatry. They were sacrificing their children to demons! How much worse can sin get? Their sin was BIG-there’s no way around it.

Here, anybody caught doing something like that would justly be put into prison if not condemned to death themselves. These would be just sentences for their crimes. It would be right for these things to take place. Concerning the Israelites, God did deliver them to be oppressed by their enemies. But his hand does not stop there. If we read further, God in his grace saved these undeserving, murderous, idolatrous, people (44-46):

Nevertheless, he looked upon their distress, when he had heard their cry. For their sake he remembered his covenant, and relented according to the abundance of his steadfast love. He caused them to be pitied by all those who held them captive.

God did not have to save them. He would have been perfectly just and perfectly good if he had not relented but kept them in their oppression. They deserved that. But God is a gracious God.

In comparison, we have never sacrificed a baby to an idol, but because God is Holy even the “smallest” of sin offends Him and it is rightly punished with Hell. But God is a gracious God.  He’s so gracious that he sent Jesus to die for sinners. We do not have to be condemned to hell if we will call on the precious name of Jesus.

As I read this story, I’m amazed at the grace of Jesus. If God relents on a whoring, murderous and idolatrous people then we must believe that there’s no sin bigger than His grace in Christ Jesus-not even sacrificing babies to demons. 

This song fits my praise:

Wonderful grace of Jesus

Deeper than the mighty rolling seas…

Bigger than my sins,

Greater than my shame,

O magnify the precious name of Jesus

Praise His name! Praise His name! Praise His name!

Let’s praise His name!

(This song was on the "Village Worship" CD-let it edify you too. It's free. )