Sad Beyond Measure

Dr. Paul Brand and Philip Yancey wrote a book together in 1980 entitled, Fearfully and Wonderfully Made. This book made a noted impact on me as a high school student who was trying to make sense of a bunch of things including life and God. Title of the book was taken from Psalm 139:13-16, which read:

For you formed my inward parts;
    you knitted me together in my mother's womb.
¹⁴ I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.^[a]
Wonderful are your works;
    my soul knows it very well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
    intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶ 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.

As I high school I struggled a great deal with issues like self-image and self-esteem. God used the Brand-Yancey book and Psalm 139, particularly the verses noted above to challenge me to re-consider God’s incredible value of life, even my life. I believe from the moment of concept forward, human life of is incredible value to God. I also believe it should be value to us as people created in the image of God.

 I truly wish it was not the case, but in what seems like increasing ways, we as citizens of the world, are growing to less and less regard for life. This morning, through a news briefing email I subscribe to, I saw two articles that I believe are sad in a manner that is almost beyond measure. One concerns an incident in China (China one child policy enforcer runs over baby), the other references an article in a British medical ethics journal (Killing babies no different from abortion experts say).  

I do not believe our world will improve if we continue to embrace values that degenerate and disregard life as precious.  Please join me in praying for God to convict us of our disdain and derision of His values. May we come to know the truth of Psalm 139:13-16.