I would like us to take a little break from our regular blog in Colossians to consider another topic over the next two weeks. We are living in a day of great confusion. A lot of that confusion has centered around sex and gender issues. I think David and the Word of God clearly demonstrate who is responsible for our gender and our sex. Looking at Psalm 139 we read, “For you formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they were all written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them,” (Ps.139:13-16 NKJV). The word “For” at the start of this section connects back to the previous verses that spoke about God knowing us in the darkness. There is no place where God is not a present help. God is the author of life and even before we are born, He is shaping and molding us and at work in the secret place. With the rejection of biblical authority in our world, the door has been opened wide for all kinds of twisted and sick ideas. The idea of teenage children choosing to change their sex and having it paid for by health insurance plans would have been unthinkable even five years ago. But all this goes back to the rejection of God and the authority of His Word.
If you do not have your identity in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are open to any of the suggestions that the devil may put into your mind. In the Psalm before us, the knitting process of God is figurative of God’s sovereignly superintending the process of reproduction. God’s power is evidenced by the creation of each unique individual. He covered us while we were in the womb and knit us together. He is the great God, and the psalmist tells us that this process is God at work “fearfully and wonderfully” creating each and every individual. That would include their gender, the color of their eyes, the color of their hair, and the uniqueness of each individual's fingerprints. All these are a demonstration that humanity has been created in the image and likeness of the God of the universe. This idea of God creating David in the womb as being fearfully and wonderfully made results in him breaking forth in praise to God as his great Creator. This leads to a sense of awe and wonder at how marvelous God’s knowledge must be that He can create us and build us even when we are unseen to human eyes. The fact that humanity is created in the image and likeness of God makes every life of intrinsic value. David was justly astonished as he considered the beauty of creation in the gift of life. He would have us to understand that he’s not getting carried away with his own writings, but rather he’s under a deep conviction to the core of his being that all of God’s works and creation are marvelous.
As our world has gone haywire to the very core of its being, you and I need to hold onto the truth and declare the truth that God is the origin of life and that He is the one who has woven us and designed us together in an amazing intricacy. It’s not politically correct, but it’s biblically correct. The NIV translates verse 15 as, “when I was woven together in the depths of the earth”, that is translated in the NKJV as “And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth”, (v.15b). Both those translations highlight the embroidering work of God in the creation of each and every individual. This suggests veins and arteries that run throughout our whole body even in the womb, which is clearly seen on modern-day ultrasounds. But when David was formed in the womb there was no ultrasound, so how could he understand the truth of what is written? David wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and because of that, he has a depth of understanding that far exceeds human knowledge. He recognized that he was formed in the womb and the lower parts of the earth, but that God oversaw every detail. David’s frame means a skeleton and even the unformed parts of his body that would be his embryo.
Again, we need to come back to a clear teaching, belief, and conviction that all of life is a gift from God and that God is the architect of life. We need to hold up before people at every opportunity the reality of the sacredness of life and the distinct uniqueness of every single person. In a day where tens of thousands of young people are struggling with depression and anxiety and feeling overwhelmed by the circumstances that have been cast upon them, we need to hold out the hope of our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, as the one who can bring healing to the deepest core of our being. We hold in our hands and in our hearts the key to ministering to this broken generation all around us. In our hands, we hold the Word of God, and we must build on the foundation that it has given to us to speak into our culture. In our hearts, we hold the living Word, the Lord Jesus Christ and He is the one who wants to direct our steps to know how to best seize the moment that is before us. At every turn, we must declare these truths that the Word of God contains the hope for the world and that Jesus Christ is still transforming hearts and lives.
Rejoicing in the Creator,
Pastor Rich Sivo