Thursday, November 17, 2022

Cradle to Grave - Part 3

Thursday, November 17, 2022

Just as you cannot understand the path of the wind or the mystery of a tiny baby growing in its mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the activity of God, who does all things.  Ecclesiastes 11:5

Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him.  Psalm 127:3

The womb is such a complex mystery, the seedbed of God’s crown of creation, the life of humans.  Many other Scriptures point to the first home we all inhabit.  From the Psalmist to the wisdom of Solomon, and the prophets, the womb is sacred.

·       King David shared how God put him together in the womb:

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb.  Psalm 139:13

·       The prophet Isaiah said God was calling him while he was not yet born:

Listen to me, all you in distant lands!  Pay attention, you who are far away! The Lord called me before my birth; from within the womb he called me by name.  Isaiah 49:1

·       Jeremiah claims God knew all about him even before the womb:

“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

·       Hosea pointed to the personalities of Jacob and Esau while still unborn:

Even in the womb, Jacob struggled with his brother; when he became a man, he even fought with God.  Hosea 12:3

In yesterday’s devotion, I promised to deal with the “sexism” issue today.  The surprising thing (especially for those who have either never read Scripture, or misunderstand what they have read of God’s Word) is that there is no issue; it is more a modern confusion…which Paul clears up.  It’s a little humorous that Paul is the one to settle this issue, as he generally gets the bad rap of being sexist…but here’s what he said: 

There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female.  For you are all one in Christ Jesus.  Galatians 3:28

Resolution for pointing fingers at women in the abortion issue (and therefore the hornet’s nest reaction of women’s rights being violated), is not so much a matter of stopping the finger-pointing, but pointing in the right direction.  We must remember that there were two participants in creating the child; there is a father as well as a mother.  Throughout recorded history the patristic cultures which viewed women as chattel have assigned blame for abortion on mothers.  It has been the selfishness of the fathers shirking responsibility that skews the issue.  That does not absolve women, but places responsibility on the shoulders of both partners in the death of unwanted children.  The law (Roe v. Wade specifically) did not change the hearts of men and women; how could it?  Law only points out where we have failed.  But the “law” of God’s Word not only accuses, it also corrects, pointing to our responsibility to preserve life and protect the innocent.

For You Today  

With all the Biblical evidence proclaiming the holiness of the womb’s residents, it is natural to conclude that destroying what God has created, and even named beforehand as a holy gift to us, is an abomination; He said so:

There are six things the Lord hates—no, seven things he detests:  haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that kill the innocent, a heart that plots evil, feet that race to do wrong, a false witness who pours out lies, a person who sows discord in a family.  Proverbs 6:16-19

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

There are about 2,000 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper on today’s topic, explore some of these: 

       Subway Sermon   and   An Apology to Molech

Images: Title image Pixabay.com Images without citation are either personal property of the author, or in public domain.

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©   

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