| “He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge…?” |
| —Psalm 91:4 |
Throughout Scripture, there are several references to the protection afforded a newborn by its mother. The instinct of the one who has given birth is most always to protect the newborn until it can care for itself. In Psalm 91:4 to explain God’s loving care, the Psalmist calls forth the image of a mother bird which lines the nest with feathers and then protectively covers the newborn with her wings:
He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge…
But, we can see this kind of protection in many species, including human beings. At least we can most of the time. In our current America, one aspect of our downward spiraling society that so shocks me is the cavalier, yet prevailing, attitude toward the discarding of an unborn human baby through abortion.
Earlier this week during a phone call, I listened carefully to someone I greatly admire and respect try to explain to me how the majority of our society justifies what to me seems like a heartless and horrible act. He was not asserting his own beliefs. Rather, he was trying to help me understand, as he believes he does, the view from the communist/socialist left that has promoted the killing of millions of unborn babies.
He opined that most people do not believe a recently conceived unborn is yet a human being. He talked about how millions of natural, medically spontaneous abortions take place throughout the world each year. He explained that if all those naturally aborted fetuses ended up in heaven—that is, would have souls—heaven would overflow with trillions of beings that had never been alive on earth. He continued to explain that, therefore, the unborn must not have souls until they reach a certain time period after conception. A time period that no one knows for certain. Thus, when a woman asserts her will and decides to abort an unborn child, for whatever reason, she is not committing murder. The unborn child is not a human being, because it has no soul. It’s just a bunch of cells. He likened abortion to the removal of a wart from the back of one’s hand.
As I listened to his explanation, I sat in stunned silence. Finally, I thanked him for explaining this to me. As the call ended, I literally felt sick inside. My spirit utterly rebelled at his explanation. The decision of which child will be born is not a decision for any human to make. It is a decision that only God should make. At least that’s my opinion. Apparently, I am in an ever-diminishing minority.
Abortion pushes against the very protective nature toward their offspring that God has imbued within human beings. I am glad that when a new believer responds to God’s call to acknowledge the gift of eternal life, God doesn’t decide to perform some act that will deny that one eternal life.
At the start of another new day, let’s remember that God watches over us with a loving care that models for us the way we should care for others—particular those He has placed in our charge. Just as the bear in the photo that accompanies this blog post has wrapped her arms around her cubs, so God has wrapped His loving arms around us. And, that is a very good thing.
Oh, by the way, I have absolutely no problem believing that heaven could easily hold trillions of naturally aborted and stillborn babies. In fact, I’m counting on it. In fact, I believe that every aborted unborn child belongs to God through a very special act of His mercy, love, and grace.
Based on a blog originally posted on Friday, November 17, 2017
