These were the words spoken by the LORD to Jeremiah when He called him to the office of prophet. We will meditate upon them in two primary ways:

--First, in regard to the nature and sanctity of human life. Every human being is made by God and bears His image. This truth is rarely contemplated in our day, yet few concepts are so profound and far-reaching. From the beginning, God made mankind male and female (Gen 1:27; Matt 19:4), the pinnacle of His creation, manifesting the greatness of His wisdom and power. Who can fully comprehend the wonder of the human being? What is like the human mind in its ability to understand, to experience, to feel, to communicate, to love, to adapt, to judge, to affect its own environment, even to contemplate the purpose and implications of its own existence! What is like it in its ability to comprehend the abstract and eternal, and to have intimacy with God? What is so wondrous as the human body, with every part formed especially for its purpose, with every joint so amazingly knit together, with each part cooperating for the good of the whole, and with the ability and talent to accomplish such great things? How marvelous is the human being! How much a testimony to the greatness of God! And where does it all begin? --In the womb. God forms the life from the moment of conception, and it is, perhaps, in this process that the wonder of God's creative power is most evident. Who has not marveled when seeing the formation of the child in the womb? Consider the scriptural description. Job said, "Did you not pour me out like milk, and curdle me like cheese, clothe me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews?" (Job 10:10-11). Our every bone, every blood vessel, every muscle, every nerve, every organ, every fluid, and every needful part of the body are all fashioned by God. David said, "For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them" (Psalm 139:13-16). But because sin and death have now entered the world, that process in the womb results in a less than perfect being. Nevertheless, the life is no less made by God, and He, in the sense of His sovereignty over all that is made, takes responsibility for it: "Who has made man's mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Is it not I, the LORD?" (Ex 4:11). He is the creator of all life, and the source of its continuation; "for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, 'For we are also His offspring'" (Acts 17:28).

Consider the implications. We do not belong to ourselves but to the God who formed us. The child in the womb is the product of His creative power, not the result of evolution. Our allegiance is His right, for He is our maker. He commands us, therefore, to submit to His rule, and He warns us that we will be judged according to His law. Oh the privilege and responsibility of being human! To have the greatest of gifts and abilities but also the highest accountability! Therefore, fear God and keep His commandments, for this applies to every man (Eccl 12:13).

We also see that human life is sacred. God has made man in His image and for His glory; therefore, let us hold every human being in high regard. Let us seek to love our neighbors (Matt 22:39) and consider them better than ourselves (Phil 2:3). Let us also lament and stand against the practice of abortion. To kill an unborn child is one of the highest forms of rebellion against God. It is to murder a defenseless life that God, from the moment of conception, has been forming in the womb. The life that a woman carries belongs to God; it is His gift to her and a stewardship with which she has been entrusted. Although that life is within her, it is separate from her own body, and it has rights equal to hers in the sight of God. We must, then, highly treasure the value of unborn life and voice opposition to abortion. We must not allow a wicked generation to deceive women into thinking that they have a right that belongs only to God--the right to choose. But in saying this, we must never be hateful of others. We must never forget that God is merciful and that for those who have transgressed in this regard, there can be forgiveness through Jesus Christ.

--Second, in regard to the omniscience and sovereignty of God. He knows all things actual and all things possible; He knows what is and what will be. He knows the beginning and the end, and everything in between. His knowledge is as unbounded as His power, and there is nothing under the sun that escapes His notice. "The eyes of the Lord are in every place, watching the evil and the good" (Prov 15:3).

But God's knowledge is not merely that of observation and prediction; He determines the end from the beginning (Is 46:10). He told Jeremiah, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you a prophet to the nations" (Jer 1:5). As surely as He forms the child in the womb, so He also forms the child's destiny. He appoints the leader to lead, the beggar to beg, the laborer to labor, the mother to nurture, and every person to occupy a place in life. He determines the time to be born and the time to die (Eccl 3:2), and He sets the days and seasons of life to fulfill His divine pleasure. "The Lord has made everything for its own purpose, even the wicked for the day of evil" (Prov 16:4).

Let this cause two reactions: first, assurance in God's children. He is their heavenly Father. He sets them apart from the womb and chooses the time to reveal His Son in them (Gal 1:15-16). He nurtures and provides for them far more than any earthly father. God here told Jeremiah that He knew him before he was formed in the womb. This is the knowledge of intimacy; it is intellectual and emotional; it is the knowledge of love. Although God had prepared days of difficulty for Jeremiah, He has also assured Him of His presence and help. He similarly told Moses, "Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say" (Ex 4:12). He said to Joshua, "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go" (Josh 1:9). And in this calling of Jeremiah, He said, "I am with you to deliver you" (Jer 1:8). Let God's children also be assured that God ordains their every step for good. He will be with them in their every circumstance, and He will accomplish their ultimate salvation. "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified" (Rom 8:28-30).

Second, let it cause repentance in those who do not know God. His revealed sovereignty is not intended to cause despair but to motivate. He shows you that He rules your destiny so that you will repent and seek Him. "He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us" (Acts 17:26-27). You must realize that the soul God has given you is more valuable than the entire world (Matt 16:26), and nothing can redeem it but the blood of Christ. Seek Him, then, while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near (Is 55:6); for the day is coming when many, unlike Jeremiah, will hear Him say, "I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness" (Matt 7:23).