A New Year, A New Life - Psalm 22:9-10

“But You are He who took me out of the womb; You made me trust while on my mother’s breasts. I was cast upon You from birth. From my mother’s womb You have been my God.”
- Psalm 22:9-10

    Today we celebrate a New Year. As with all “new years”  we like to take stock of what has transpired in the previous year and often design what we will do with our lives in the coming year. We make resolutions that we may or may not keep (. . . guilty!). And we take the opportunity to review what we have accomplished or at least attempted to accomplish in the past year. For many it is a time of rebirth.
    It is always a good time to recall our commitment to our living God. The God responsible for our existence.
    As the Psalmist states, “You are he who took me out of the womb.” Reflecting on that simple statement we realize it is not as simple as it seems. Conception and birth are not guaranteed to anyone, especially in our Godless time. Many do not understand that God is the deliverer of life! A child is conceived and in due time, and assuming there are no complications, the child is born . . . by the very grace of God! “Listen to Me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been upheld by Me from birth, who have been carried from the womb: even to your old age, I am He, and even to gray hairs I will carry you! I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.” - Isaiah 43:3 - 4. God has promised to uphold, carry, bear, and deliver us . . . even to our old age!
    There are many in this hellish age who believe that conception and birth are “rights” reserved to the woman who would bear a child. To do the unthinkable; to do the unconscionable; to end a God-ordained pregnancy as a matter of “choice” is the evidence of a blackened heart. Let us all resolve this new year to do all we can to honor and preserve that which God has willed! It is God who enabled the conception of one of His own children and it is only God who has the right to terminate that pregnancy. It is our place to continually praise and thank Him for his providence in our lives. “By You I have been upheld from birth; You are He who took me out of my mother’s womb. My praise shall be continually of You.” - Psalm 71:6.
    Never having enough to say about the sanctity of the lives of the unborn I will return to this highly controversial subject in my next post. Until then, may God’s holy intentions be our own. Happy New Year to all my Christian brothers and sisters!