Today is the 42^nd anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v Wade decision, removing virtually all state restrictions on the destruction of the unborn in their mothers’ wombs.

With that in mind, consider these thoughts on David’s Psalm 139, verses11-16:

If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you. (Psalm 139:11-12)

David acknowledges that there are times when he wonders: Can I be hidden from God? Can I go voluntarily where He can’t see me? Can I be forced to go anywhere where He won’t watch over me? David realizes the answer is no. No darkness can hide us from God. All is light to Him.

David then explains this further, considering the first dark place we all experience: The womb:

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 (Psalm 139:13-16).

In the womb, absent any light, God knitted you together. You are a remarkably complex being, and God fashioned every aspect of that complexity in the darkness of your mother’s uterus. He saw all, and like a master weaver He intricately and carefully wove the fibers of fabric that make up your being just the way He wanted. More than that: He had planned out your life – every day – even when you were just the merging of two cells.

Can we then take this fabulous creation and rip it apart – in the name of convenience?

We can and must understand and care for women caught up in the trauma of an unexpected and undesired pregnancy. We can and must show compassion and provide help for those who can’t imagine carrying a child and giving birth. (For an example of such understanding and compassion, see this video from the Pregnancy Resource Center of Charlotte).

But every one of the unborn is made in the image of God, knitted together by Him, created for His glory. Who are we to choose which ones shall live, and which ones shall never be born? Who are we to decide which remarkably complex being will become full grown, and which will be tossed out as medical waste?

We cannot hide from God – nor does anything hide us from Him. He sees us. He watches over us. He knows us. Every one – including all the unborn. And their mothers. And their fathers.

He is a just God – He will not let any sin go unpunished. Yet He is a gracious and compassionate God, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, forgiving iniquity, rebellion and sin (Exodus 34:6-7) – all through the sacrifice of Jesus, the Son God knit together in Mary’s womb.

So walk in the light as He is in the light. And may God be pleased to grant us as a country both repentance for the tens of millions of unborn who have died these last decades, and compassion for the frightened women facing unplanned pregnancies.