Through David, God intends to teach every willing recipient of Psalm 139 that every unborn child is exceedingly precious to Him. At a time when ungodly people are pushing their false views about abortion upon people in an unprecedented way, we who prize the Bible should immerse ourselves with a renewed fervor in its infallible teaching about this vital subject.
Based on God’s amazing knowledge of all of David’s ways (Ps. 139:1-5), including even what he would say before he would say it (Ps. 139:4), he acknowledged that God’s knowledge of him was far beyond any possibility of his understanding it (Ps. 139:6). He further remarked that his escaping God’s presence was impossible regardless of wherever he might seek to go (Ps. 139:7-12) and whenever he might seek to go there (in the daytime or at nighttime [Ps. 139:11-12]).
Using the word for (Ps. 139:13) to begin his teaching in the rest of the psalm, David then explains his previous teaching in a way that many of its readers overlook. In fact, I had done so until God illumined me to the importance of that truth this morning.
He explains that he could not escape God’s presence because God was the One who formed him in the womb (Ps. 139:13-16), a dark place in which there is no light (cf. Ps. 139:11-12). In that secret place, God formed his body in a fearful, wonderful, and marvelous work of God about which David’s soul knew very well (Ps. 139:13-14)! He thus testified that he had no question about the truth of God’s having created him so magnificently in the womb.
David then testified that his frame was not hidden from God when He skillfully created him (Ps. 139:15). God saw his substance when it was yet unformed (Ps. 139:16a). Moreover, God had written down in His book all the days that he would live even before he existed (Ps. 139:16b).
Beyond speaking both of God’s marvelously creating Him and of God’s preordaining all the days that he would live, he extolled the preciousness of His doing these things: “How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them!” (Ps. 139:17). The word also in this statement and David’s use of how to modify precious show that David regarded God’s forming him in the womb, His ordaining exactly how long he would live, and His thoughts toward him (Ps. 139:17-18) all to be exceedingly precious.
We learn from David’s teaching in Psalm 139 that he knew very well that he was an exceedingly precious creation of God from the very time that God created him in the womb. What was true of him is also true of every unborn child because God is the One who forms every child in the womb.[1]
Rejecting all the counsel of the ungodly, we who know the Bible must unwaveringly believe what God says about the exceeding preciousness of every unborn child!
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