David reminds us in Psalm 139 that we are all fearfully and wonderfully made and that the works of God in us are truly wonderful. David helps us to understand the value of life because he reminds us that God knew us and formed us and designed us for his glory. In this week’s episode, we reflect on that Biblical truth and how the church is called to celebrate God’s wonderful works in all things, including disability.
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Quick Links:
Counter Culture by David Platt
Down Syndrome Births Down in the US
CBS Iceland Down Syndrome News Report
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Transcript:
Hey everyone! Welcome to episode 64 of Key Ministry: The Podcast. My name is Garett Wall and I’m thankful to be your host this week as we discuss the extraordinary value God places on human life. Each of us has significant value in God’s eyes because he created every one of us in His image. Your life my life and the lives of the people around us have significant value because we all reflect God’s love and goodness and creativity in the ways he has formed and designed us. Today, God wants to remind us of that reality as we allow His Word and His Spirit to guide us in our conversation.
As we begin, let me ask you…Have you ever been on deadline for something but felt stuck, not sure of what direction you should go with the project or the job or the task in order to meet that deadline? Have you ever done a significant amount of research with a relatively clear path to where you thought that research was taking you until your game plan came to a screeching halt? Have you ever created a plan for something and found yourself inside the details of executing that plan only to realize what God was planning was different than what you were planning?
Here's the thing…I thought I knew where this week’s podcast was going. For several days, I had planned, and I had done research, and gathered thoughts while expecting the process of writing what I would eventually record and share to flow quite easily like so many other times. But not this week. The more I wrote and the deeper I went into what I had planned, the clearer it became that I was not in step with the Holy Spirit. Honestly, it’s not something I’ve felt before when preparing for one of these podcasts or really any message or talk I’ve prepared in the past.
This week, what I planned and what God planned were not the same.
And when that happens, the only right response is to set my pride on the shelf, to get out of the way, and to ask God for clarity on where he wants to go. That moment when you delete everything you’ve typed and reset your page for a new start is equal parts terrifying and paralyzing but as I asked for God’s guidance and discernment on what to say this week, the thing He kept bringing to me was simply to be in awe of Him and to praise Him for the ways he has designed every person.
I couldn’t escape Psalm 139 specifically verses 13 and 14 where the psalmist David writes about 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.”
In that moment, David is declaring that God created every part of his being from conception and that he was created in ways that were both fearful and wonderful. In this case, fearful doesn’t mean that David was created in a moment of fear or dread but instead fearful here is more of a reverence, holiness, and even sacred. He goes on to describe the works of God as wonderful, and he has peace in that truth because he believes it in his soul.
All those truths about David’s creation are also truths about me and you.
Those verses translate as Biblical truth for every person and there is significant value in being formed and knitted together and wonderfully made by God and for God in the image of God.
God didn’t have to create any of us. It was through his abounding love that he even invited us into his world and for that blessing, we should praise Him and glorify Him and seek to value others in the ways he values each of us. We see in Genesis 1:27 that God created each of us in his own image. Our creation literally reflects the image of God and the love of God.
In the first 12 verses of Psalm 139, David emphasizes the reality of God searching and knowing every part of his life. God knows when he sits and when he stands. God knows his actions and movements. God knows the words he’ll say before they ever come out of his mouth. And understanding those realities about God is too wonderful for David to fully comprehend.
David also talks about his inability to escape God’s presence. Because David has surrendered to God, he belongs to Him, and his life is designed for God’s glory, so he can’t escape the closeness of God.
Even in the darkness of the world and the darkness of life, God’s light overcomes.
And then he shares what we read in verses 13 and 14,
“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.”
He echoes those statements in verses 15 and 16 when he says,
“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.”
David describes his own creation as being made in secret and intricately woven by God. He acknowledges that God saw him and knew him before he had been formed and even then, God had already planned a path for David long before he was created.
And like David, I’m left in awe of that reality for myself. Long before my family or friends ever considered my existence, God already knew the most intricate details of me and my life and that is no different for you. We should be left in awe of that reality not only for ourselves but for all people because God created each of us in the same way. He knows all there is to know about us and he loves us. We’re made by him, and we’re made for Him. And with that comes significant value.
Unfortunately, we live in a fallen, broken, and sinful world where the value and significance of human life have been greatly diminished. We live in a world where the value of human life is determined as if it’s a budget line item on a spreadsheet. We live in a world today where culture tells us we should be able to determine whether human life inside the womb should carry on outside of the womb. We live in a time where the world tells us our life plans or our career goals or even the information, we discover through prenatal testing gives us the right to choose life or death inside the womb.
More than 10 years ago, research reviewed by a pediatric geneticist at Boston Children’s Hospital reported that an estimated 92 percent of all women who received a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome chose to terminate the pregnancy. A CBS News Investigation from a few years ago reported that nearly 100 percent of women in Iceland whose prenatal tests came back positive for Down syndrome chose to end their pregnancy. CBS News also found there were similar trends across Europe when it came to terminating pregnancies because of positive prenatal tests. 98 percent in Denmark. 90 percent in the United Kingdom and 77 percent in France. And in the United States, the number was 67 percent, which is 2 out of every 3 unborn babies with Down syndrome.
In no way do those stats, nor does the reality of our world today reflect the words of David in Psalm 139 when he said “I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.” The world around us will tell us there is a diminishing value in the lives of people with disabilities and that message is a lie from Satan himself to deceive us and to lead us on a path of destruction. Our world is destroying human life because of a consumer approach to humanity. It’s as if the world is asking whether a particular human life, one that includes Down syndrome or any other disability, provides enough return on an investment like we’re buying and trading stocks and bonds. And if it’s determined there isn’t enough value in that life, then we’re not only allowed to end that life before it ever leaves the womb but in many parts of our world, we’re encouraged and celebrated for ending that life.
We are all fearfully and wonderfully made, and the works of God are truly wonderful. And though each of us are made in God’s image, none of us are made to be God.
Pastor and author David Platt says it this way in his book Counter Culture:
“Based on Scripture, I beg us not to deny the wonderful work of God even (or especially) in disability. Even when we don’t understand it, God has a design and a desire to use everything for our good and his glory (see Romans 8:28), and it is not only wrong but also foolish to play god in such situations by essentially saying that we know better than he does.”
I am thankful for God’s plans and his designs for every person. God doesn’t ask us for our blessings on what he plans and the good he will do through those plans. The Creator doesn’t need his creation to do what only He can do. Our job is to worship and praise Him and to share the good news of the Gospel with all people. Our job is to celebrate the value of life as determined by God, not by culture or by what makes us happy in a moment.
As the church, we’re called to be bold with the Biblical truths of the value of life and we’re called to advocate and care for all people, especially those that the world says doesn’t have value and can’t speak for themselves.
There is a reverence and sacredness to the ways God forms and knits his human creation and we as the church are called to hold firm to those Biblical truths.
The immense value in God’s human creation inside the womb continues outside the womb and for our friends and families impacted by disability, the world doesn’t suddenly become a more friendly and welcoming place after birth. Our churches should be the most welcoming, caring, and compassionate places for our friends and families in the disability community.
Let’s continue to work together as Christ’s church to tell everyone of the Biblical truth of the wonderful work of God in disability and how He wants to do amazing things in and through the lives of our friends and families in the disability community.
“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.”
Thank you for listening in to this week’s episode of Key Ministry: The Podcast. You can find a full transcript as well as helpful links and notes connected to today’s conversation at keyministry.org/podcast. Let us praise God for his wonderful works through disability and for the peace we can find in our souls as we worship Him and give Him all the glory. Have a blessed day and I hope we can talk again soon.
