RELIGION: God calls us to repent of abortion evil

Weekly Devotion

"You brought my inner parts into being; You wove me in my mother's womb. I will praise you, for You made me with fear and wonder; marvelous are Your works, and You know me completely. My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in secret, and intricately put together in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw me unformed, yet in Your book all my days were written, before any of them came into being." Psalm 139:13-16

The teaching of the Bible, as summarized in this section of Psalm 139, is that the LORD God who created the heavens and the earth and created the first man and woman and gave them life (Gen. 1-2) is also the one who creates and forms each child in the womb of his or her mother and gives to each child life. He is the one who determines when and how long each person will live before any of one's days come into being.

True science illustrates this amazing work of God. The forming child has a detectable beating heart within the first month of pregnancy -- often before the mother even knows she is pregnant. By five to six weeks, the child has a human brain, lungs and airways and most bodily organs are developing. By six to seven weeks, brain waves can be detected, the child begins movement, fingers are forming, cells are developing in females for future reproduction ... and I could go on and on with the things science has discovered regarding development in the womb.

Since God creates and gives life in the womb, beginning already at the moment of conception, and determines all our days, God's commandments against murdering another human being in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 apply. To intentionally kill an unborn child in the womb is murder and condemned by God just as much as killing a child who has been born or murdering an older child or an adult. And, the same is true in regard to euthanasia -- the intentional killing of the old before God would call them to stand before His throne of judgment.

Murder, like any sin against God's commandments, merits God's judgment; and the Bible makes clear that "the soul who sins shall die" (Ezek. 18:4). The mothers and fathers who take the lives of their unborn children, the doctors and medical staff who perform abortions, the judges and rulers and people who defend abortion and allow it to go on in their lands all share in the just judgment of God's law and merit the eternal wrath and punishment of their Creator. And there can be little doubt that God will judge our nation and people for the millions of abortions performed in our land!

What does God say in His Word to those guilty or complicit in this great evil of abortion in our land? What does God say to those who have done nothing to defend the defenseless children slaughtered in our land? The answer is the same for those guilty of any sin before God -- and we all are guilty under God's law (cf. Rom. 3:19ff.) -- "Repent and be converted, that your sins may be wiped away, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord" (Acts 3:19; cf. Rom. 3:21ff.).

God's Word tells us: "My little children, I am writing these things to you, so that you do not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world" ( 1 John 2:1-2).

So, look to the LORD God for mercy. Acknowledge your sins and seek His pardon and forgiveness in the blood of Jesus, shed for you upon the cross! And, as Jesus told the woman caught in adultery after He forgave her sin, "Go and sin no more" (John 8:11).

[Devotion by Randy Moll. Views expressed are those of the author.]