After David’s sin with Bathsheba he was approached by the prophet Nathan and told the story of a poor man and his beloved lamb. A rich neighbor sent and killed the poor man’s lamb to feed a traveler who had stopped to visit. David’s anger was kindled and declared that the rich man would die for his actions. To this Nathan replied, “You are the man!” (2 Samuel 12:1–7).
Soon after these events David sits down and penned Psalm 51 and acknowledged his sin before God. What made David such a great man was his humility and trust in the Lord. His love for God trumped everything else that he could have put his trust in. Whether it was sin, an enemy, or the betrayal of a friend David put his hope and trust in God. He knew that this is where salvation came from!
The truth is that we too need to come to the same humble conclusion and place our trust and hope in the Lord. So many put their hope in financial independence, luxuries of life, governments, armies, sinful pleasures, and even fleeting inanimate things such as time. Common sense and God’s word tells us that such things are not lasting (James 4:14) and that what is really important are the treasures we lay up in heaven (Matthew 6:19–20).
There is no hope without Christ for without him we are strangers to God and lost in our sins, separated from Him (Isaiah 59:1–2; Ephesians 2:12). There is no salvation (1 Timothy 1:1; Hebrews 6:18–19) and only sorrow (1 Thessalonians 4:13). Hope cam by the grace of God (2 Thessalonians 2:16; 1 Peter 1:21), is available through the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Colossians 1:23), and will be realized in eternal life at the resurrection and the return of Jesus (Titus 1:2; 2:13; Titus 3:7).
We must humble ourselves and acknowledge our utter dependence on Him. Peace, joy, and hope will follow! Let us be faithful to the One in whose hands is our eternal salvation. And let each of us hold fast to this hope (Hebrews 10:23).
(Warning: This article will contain descriptions and pictures of aborted infants which are quite gruesome. Please do not read this article if you are easily offended or physically sickened by unedited pictures of violence done to human beings, or while in the presence of small children or those who have weak physical constitutions.)
Why do I say that? God is our Creator. He formed us while we were in the womb (Ps. 139:13-16; Job 31:15). He did not “knit” together a mere chemical activity, cellular growth, or other vague force like pro-abortionists claim the fetus to be. The Hebrew for the “unformed substance” in Ps. 139:16 that God saw has to do with the embryonic state, the first eight weeks after conception. So long before even the mother can feel life in her womb, God knows…and cares. He formed us in the womb, human beings in his own image. Jehovah was and is personally involved in our development while we were inside our mothers, so do you think he is pleased when we go out of our way to destroy the work that he made and cares for?
Exodus 21:22-25 gives us the answer to that question. God decreed that if a man harmed a pregnant woman who later gave birth and it was proven that any harm came to that unborn child due to the man harming her, then that man would pay back wound for wound that was inflicted upon the unborn child. And if the unborn child had died while in the womb and was delivered as a stillborn, then that man would pay with his life! “Life for life…” How could God say that if life doesn’t begin until birth like abortion proponents claim? You see, there islife in the womb, before birth…and so any taking of that life is an abomination before God. Babies, both while in the womb (Rom. 9:10-13) and after birth (Ezek. 18:1-20), are innocent…and God hates hands “which shed innocent blood” (Prov. 6:17).
So what is happening in our nation today – the mass killing of innocent life which takes place through abortion – is an irreverent assault on the unique work that God performs. It is an abomination to him, something that he hates not only because it destroys the work of his hands and the life that he gives, but also because of howit destroys that life.
9-week human baby after being killed through abortion
Forgive my sarcasm, but what if Brian, Amy, and Melissa had realized what proponents of abortion are saying, that there are other “more civilized” ways to get rid of a baby?! If they had only possessed the “dignity” to have their babies “professionally” killed, they could have avoided arrest and bad publicity! When Amy and Melissa had first learned they were pregnant, they could have hired a “doctor” to employ a vacuum tube with a sharp blade attached to it, and he could have sucked the child from the womb, dicing it up into several pieces. Or, in their seventh and twelfth week of pregnancy, a “doctor” could have entered their wombs with a loop-shaped steel knife and sliced the placenta from the walls of the uterus and cut the baby’s tiny body into pieces.
Baby after being killed via saline abortion
Or, between the twelfth and eighteenth weeks of pregnancy, they could have had a “doctor” take an instrument very similar to sharp-toothed pliers and dismember the baby part by part until all parts were removed from their wombs. Brian, Amy, and Melissa could have also chosen in the sixteenth week of pregnancy to hire a “doctor” to insert a long needle through the mothers’ abdomens into the babies’ sacs and inject a solution of concentrated salt. The babies would have breathed in the salt and been poisoned by it, and the corrosive effect of the salt would have burned off the outer layer of their skin. An hour after those injections, their babies would have been dead, they would have then delivered dead children about a day later, and it would have been the “doctor” rather than the parents who would have thrown the corpse into a trash can.
Here’s how it happens. A “doctor” – while watching the infant’s heartbeat which isclearly registering on the monitor– actually delivers the baby’s body and arms, everything but his little head. Then, while the baby’s feet are still kicking, the “doctor” jams scissors into the baby’s skull. He then opens the scissors to enlarge the hole in the baby’s head. Of course, the impact of the scissors causes the baby’s arms to jerk out in a flinching, startled reaction, like a baby does when he thinks he might fall. However, the pain wouldn’t last too long, because the doctor would then stick a high-powered suction tube into the baby’s head and suck the baby’s brains out! The limp and lifeless body of that body would then be disposed of, leaving the parents free to leave the hospital and pursue their hopes and dreams!
Do you see the inconsistency here? Why are these people found guilty of crimes for killing their babies in gruesome ways outsideof the womb…but not if they had hired “doctors” to do pretty much the same thing to those same babies a few months earlier while insidethe womb? Where’s the consistency? Where’s the outrage? (Is. 5:20)
The Holocaust
Reader, are you outraged by what you just read and saw? Are you sickened? Are you unhappy that you just read of and saw such terrible things? If you are unhappy for reading about them, I am sorry…but I made the decision to write so plainly about what happens in abortion procedures and show the gruesome results because there are too many of us, especially those in their 30’s and 40’s like me and the younger generation of teens and 20’s, who have not truly been told about what happens to a baby when it is aborted. If we are told, it is usually in a way that is extremely edited for content in order not to disgust. While this is understandable, what happens as a result is that too many of us look at the abortions of today in the same way that we look at the Holocaust of the Jews in the previous century…as a mildly unpleasant historical fact that we are far removed from. That needs to change if abortion is to stop in this country and in the world. We must hate abortion just as God hates it, and for the same reasons.
As a father, it sickens me just to consider the thought of someone harming my little girl. May we all have the same disgust and horror to the crimes committed against children who are still in the womb!
What can also help us hate the terrible deed of abortion like God hates it is when we understand why it is happening. James gives us one reason when he said, “You desire and do not have, so you murder…” (James 4:2). What do the parents of aborted babies desire that would lead them to murder their children? More financial security? More leisure? More education? More unrestrained sexual activity? More career options? Avoiding a child who may be handicapped? Less hassle for the next 18-25 years? All of us desire things and have goals…but may we work hard to never be so self-absorbed and covetous that we miss out on – or even purposefully kill – the most important things in life! (Heb. 13:5) When we love the world rather than God, we follow Satan rather than resisting him (Eph. 2:1-3; James 4:7). So let us work to have a heart that is deeply submitted to God, that reverences his word and work above all worldly self-enhancement (James 4:6). This will help us to look at things differently, react differently, want different things, and hate different things…the same things God wants and hates (Rom. 12:1-2).
God hates abortion, and so must we. We must not hate those who practice it, nor treat them in sinful ways (Rom. 12:17-18)…but we must hate the terrible deed itself, and do our best to not support in any way those who would practice or condone it (Rom. 1:32).
Does Jesus Care when your heart is hurt or upset to the point that you have no joyful song left in you to sing? Does He care when you are loaded down with burdens and your fears become overwhelming? Does He care when you look down the road in your life only for you to discover that you are no longer on the strait and narrow to Him and we find it difficult to find that path again when you are standing on the destructive footpath of life? Does He care enough to be near you at the close of the day when you are standing there alone with your faith weakened from the world? Does he care when your friends die and when those you hold so dear in your life fade back into the ground and is now only a memory of what use to be? Does he care when you think about all these things as your hearts break with sadness over what you have endured in life?
Yes, He cares! We can be assured that he cares and that his heart is touched and concerned with our grief. When we read the book of Luke, we notice that it says, “And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it” (Lk. 19:41). Jesus shows his compassion as he looked upon the city of Jerusalem and sobbed because he knew that the city was doomed and that there was no hope of a suspension or reprieve of this sentence.
Yes, He cares! The Hebrew writer said, “Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;” (Heb. 5:7, 8). Jesus cared enough to suffer. He cares enough for mankind that he was willing to experience the physical pain and torture of the cross. Jesus did this because He cares. Thus He said, “No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.” (Jn. 10:18)
Our Master is compassionate! He cares when you are hurt, when you are burdened, overwhelmed, when you have fallen, and when you are alone. He knows these things because He knows you and when your days make you worn-out and they are filled with depressing thoughts, remember that your Saviors cares!
His invitation to come to Him had to be some of the most refreshing words ever spoken. “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you…for My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matt. 11:28-30). The world in which those words were spoken had little rest. There was the burden of Roman oppression, the burden of sin and the burden of the false teaching given by the religions leaders of the Jews (Acts 15:10). He promised rest to those who came.
First-century yokes involved oxen being driven and abused in their labor. In our land, it sometimes involved slaves being yoked to replace those oxen as fields were plowed. His invitation was for men to come to Him and remove burdensome yokes. His yoke is one that is easy, and His burden is light!
He Invites Laborers into His Vineyard
Jesus described the church as being like the owner of the vineyard who went out at all hours to seek individuals to come to work in the vineyard, promising them a just reward for their efforts (Matt. 20:1-16). The invitation was extended to those who wanted to work. Sometimes, we wrongly view His “vineyard” involving nothing more than assembling whenever it fits our schedule to sit in the vineyard and sing and pray. His question to those at the eleventh hour demands serious thought. “Why have you been standing here idle all day” (v. 6). The owner of our “vineyard” expects us to come to Him to take on a yoke to work for Him. Think about this question as it applies to us, “Why are you not laboring in the vineyard?”
He Refuses Those Who Refuse to Work
Hebrews chapter four describes the fate of those whose lack of faith kept them from working for the Lord and doing His will. It describes those who left Egypt, came to the edge of the Promised Land and then quit. The Holy Spirit then turns His attention to Christians and urges us, “Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief” (v. 11). God has a Promised Land for us which we will someday enter, but until that time, He expects us to labor.
He Gives Rest to Those Who Labor
The closing book of the Bible proclaims, “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. ‘Yes,’ says the Spirit, ‘that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them’” (Rev. 14:13). The Lord’s view of those who come to Him is one of men coming to Him, laying down the heavy burdens of this world and taking on His easy yoke. He sees us working in His vineyard and after our death to then rest. What is your view of your place in that vineyard?
A man was dying in the desert when he came upon a tent. Inside the tent were two people. One of those people appeared friendly, warm, and inviting. The other person appeared ugly, cold and repulsive. In front of both people were large baskets and inside one of those baskets was life-giving water, but inside the other basket was deadly poison. The one who appeared friendly said, “Come and drink the water that is in my basket.” Then the ugly person said, “No, he is a liar. Do not drink of that bowl for it contains poison.” The friendly person replies, “I can’t believe that you are so unloving and impatient. Can’t you see this man is thirsty? Can’t you see that he needs a drink? Where is your love and compassion for this man?” So the dying man asked, “Do you know if there is water in your basket?” The “friendly” man replied, “I don’t claim to know everything, I’m just on a journey like everyone else.” The dying man asked the other, “Do you know if there is water in your basket?” He replied, “Yes, I know there is water in my basket.” Then the “friendly” person says, “I can’t believe that you would be so arrogant as to claim that you have the only water in your basket.” The friendly man turned to the dying man and said, “Surely you are an educated man who understands that we are all in this journey together and that there is not really anything that we can truly know.” The unattractive person replied, “If you drink of the bowl that he offers, you will die.” The attractive person responded, “I can’t believe that you would be so self righteous as to think that someone would die from drinking out of my bowl. Do you think that I am some kind of idiot or fool? Where is your love, your compassion, your concern for this poor soul?” He replied, “I love this man enough to tell him the truth. I want him to live. If he will but drink of the bowl that is in my basket he will.” Then he turned to the dying man and said, “Why don’t you test both substances with this litmus paper and see which is which.” The attractive person said, “I can’t believe you would ask him to do that. I’m offended that you would even suggest such.” Then he turned to the dying man and said, “If you do that, then I will be offended.” So being persuaded by the words of the attractive person who obviously loves him (after all he knew because of his pleasant and loving appearance, didn’t he?), he drank together with him of his bowl, but before the liquid reached the back of their throats, they realized that it was poison; it was too late. As they died, the attractive person said, “I’m so sorry, but I told you I didn’t know.” The man who had the water lamented, “If only he had used the test to know the truth.” The question of this parable is: who was truly the most loving out of the two?
In regard to eternal life, we each have something in our possession. Some have truth and some are deceived by lies. But there is a way to test who has truth and who doesn’t, by comparing the words that are spoken with God’s word, the Bible (2 Timothy 2:15, 3:16,17). The outcome of our decision is no less critical than the situation above; it is, in fact, even more critical. Why? Because we are not merely speaking about our physical life, but our eternal life. When it comes to questions that affect our salvation, why would we seek to gamble with our soul? We do that when we trust someone who says, “I don’t know” yet appears warm, caring, and sensitive.
On the other hand, there are others who say, “This is truth and you ought to believe it. And here is the way that you can test whether what I am telling you is truth or not.” They give it to you straight, because they understand that if you do not accept it, then your soul will be in jeopardy (2 Corinthians 5:10,11). They warn you of the terrible consequences that await those who fail to believe the truth, and they point out the fact that others are out there, deceived and speaking lies about God’s plan for man’s salvation (Matthew 7:15-20). Yet some criticize them and say that they are unloving, unkind, and lack communication skills. Truly, who is the most loving? Is it the one who allows another person to drink poison all the while acknowledging that he does not know if it is or isn’t? Or is the one who warns about the danger and frankly tells the truth to others? Who, truly, has shown the greater love?
So it is in our power to test which one is speaking the truth and which one is not (1 John 4:1). Will we, fearful of offending someone, follow our emotions and make our decision based upon the mere appearance of love, sensitivity, and concern? Or will we, regardless of who may be offended, test the things that are said against the standard of truth that God has given to ensure that our beliefs are in harmony with God’s truth? I hope that we will choose to test the things that have been told us by others by comparing them to God’s word. Then, the only thing left for us to do is believe that which is true.
