Psalm 139
1 You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. 2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. 3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. 4 Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely. 5 You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? 8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. 9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, 10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. 11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” 12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.
13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. 17 How precious to me are your thoughts,[a] God! How vast is the sum of them! 18 Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand— when I awake, I am still with you.
Since the horrific killing of the black American George Floyd, by a white police officer in May this year there has been a huge public outcry, resulting in the black life matter campaign, demanding an end to racial discrimination. The campaign has gained the support of many sportsmen and woman, many of whom have been the victim of verbal abuse.
While of course black lives do matter, as Christians we have something much more prophetic and profound to say to our society, all life matters. Our value to God does not depend on the colour of our skin, our race, or gender. From the moment of conception until the moment we die our life matters to God. That is why, we should be appalled that since the introduction of the legalisation to legalise abortion in this country eight million babies have died. It is also why we should resist the rise of anti-Semitism, which resulted in six million Jews dying in world war two and why we are right to object to the growing pressure to legalise Euthanasia. As psalm 139 beautifully reminds us, we are all created in the image of God and consequently we are all precious and special to him and he desires the very best for us.
David