God not only forms us in the womb, He knows each of us as individuals before we are created. He told Jeremiah that before He formed him, He knew him and set him apart as a prophet. Even before our conception, in the eyes of Almighty God each of us are a personality with worth and purpose.
Psalm 139 adds, "You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb" and that we are "fearfully and wonderfully made" (v. 13,14). How does God form our inward parts? How does He create eyes that can see and relate what is seen to a brain? How does our brain independently think endless thoughts? Or how does He make life-giving blood that flows through a mass of amazing vessels that make the complex freeways of Los Angeles look simple? How does He give us an invisible soul with its own unique personality? We are truly "fearfully and wonderfully made."
God knows every detail about every individual, down to the hairs on our head and the thoughts of our heart. He not only knows the date of our birth but He knows the date of our death. Such sobering thoughts will be a great comfort to us if we fear God, and if we have obeyed the gospel.
I wonder if you have wondered (as I have) about the joy that John the Baptist experienced when he was unborn. Doctor Luke says,
"And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb….For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy" (Luke 1:41,44).
Notice how the Bible uses the word "babe" (baby) when it refers to the unborn cousin of Jesus. It consistently does this throughout the Old and the New Testaments. It doesn’t call a baby a "fetus" or some other name. Snuggled in Elizabeth's womb was a living, moving baby that had been set apart to prepare the way for the Messiah who was going to destroy death.
It was this unborn human being that Scripture tells us experienced the emotion of joy. But is that scientifically possible? Can an unborn child experience emotions? Or is this just some sort of biblical camel-through-the-eye-of-a-needle or Pharisaic camel-swallowing hyperbole?
According to pregnancy.org, "Your baby can see, hear, taste and feel the intimate world you have provided around him or her. Playing soothing music for your baby helps release endorphins that help baby relax." An unborn child can even see shades of light, and "around the fourth month, your baby may begin reacting to the light, by turning away or towards it."
On the website "Pregnancy and Newborn," an article titled "Your Baby's Experience in the Womb" states,
"Believe it or not, that's a little person you're growing inside your belly! Just like the rest of us, your baby can experience a whole range of emotions even before entering this topsy-turvy world of ours. While you probably would not get into a screaming match with your partner in front of your baby once he is born, you may not think twice about it while pregnant. You may want to start censoring yourself now, however, because your unborn little guy or girl is capable of experiencing feelings of anger, fear, affection, depression and disappointment in response to his mother’s emotions and activities."
A confused, sin-loving, blind and godless world doesn't know when or how life began on earth. It pleads ignorance as to when life begins in the womb. Nor does it know why we exist. It's not even sure if the chicken came before the egg or the egg came before the chicken. Scripture describes this ignorant world as "having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart" (Ephesians 4:18).
However, those who believe the Word of God know that the chicken came first, that God created us in the beginning, and that when someone has an abortion, they take a human life. They stop a human heartbeat. Dead. There is no nice way to put it: anyone who takes the life of their own child commits the most heinous of premeditated murders. May those who have done so find a place of mercy at the cross, before the Day of Judgment.
