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. (Psalm 139:13-14) When does life begin? It’s the age-old question of which came first, the chicken or the egg? When does a clump of cells inside the uterus become a living human being? When does an embryo or a fetus become a “person”? Some say when the fetus can survive outside the womb on his own. Others say when the fetus develops self-awareness. Still others will say when it looks like a person. By these standards, however, there are many mentally and physically disabled individuals who would not be considered “persons” nor “human.” However, the psalmist says to God, “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 was none of them” (139:13-16). Every embryonic baby, no matter how tiny, is the work of God’s hands, the labor of God knitting together every individual so that they are “fearfully and wonderfully made.” And if there is any doubt about when God thinks an embryo becomes a person made in his image, we need look no further than Genesis 9:6, Exodus 20:13, and 21:22-25. In Genesis 9:6 God commands capital punishment for murder. In Exodus 20:13, the sixth commandment forbids murder. And in Exodus 21:22-25 God commands that if a man strikes a pregnant woman so that she miscarries, that man is to be put to death for murder. In the mind of God, human life begins at conception. But why talk about such a sensitive topic in a Daily Thoughts post? To remind you that life beings at conception, that all human life is valuable to God, and that you were fearfully and wonderfully made. God carefully knit you together in your mother’s womb and, from the moment of conception, you had and have infinite value in the eyes of God. He knows your name.
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April 2022
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