God was present during conception. God was present as you developed in your mothers womb. God was present during birth. God was present during the preschool years. Yes, the terrible two years. Yes, in junior and senior high school, yes in college, yes as an adult. And for Christ-followers, He is present with us throughout eternity. And God so loves you and me, ladies and gentlemen, that He commissioned His only Son to live and to die a sacrificial death and to rise again just so we could have life.
The Psalmist knew all about it. In fact, the writer of this classic book of the Old Testament got so fired up about it that he penned these words in Psalm 139, beginning with verse 13. For you created my inmost being, you knit me Notice the word me, not a product of conception, not a tissue mass, you knit me. together in my mothers 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.. This Hebrew word woven together suggests our veins and arteries. in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body This means in the original language, a fetus or embryo. all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. That is the kind of God we serve, a God who has been there, a God who places a high price tag on life.
Ed Young Pastor states that all you have got to do is thumb through the Bible, just in a casual way. The Old Testament is jammed with directives protecting life, protecting us from violence, protecting people from becoming victims. And at the top of the list in the Old Testament is this directive that says, thou shalt not kill. God is saying for one human being to take another human beings life is a choice that we do not have. Let me give you a quick advertisement. Beginning the weekend of January 2 and 3, we will start the new year with a series of talks I am fired up about called FIRST & 10. We are calling it Values for Victory. It is the ten priorities that will transform every life. I am doing a series on the Ten Commandments.
