PODCAST TRANSCRIPT | Episode 24 – The Awe and Wonder of Life in the Womb

Episode 24: The Awe and Wonder of Life in the Womb

FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell

Beginning the new series of discovering the glorious and biblical description of a baby conceiving and growing in the womb. There's more to discover from Psalm 139:13-18 than you could dream.

Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, From Our Home to Yours, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.

Nancy Campbell: Today ladies, I'm going to start a new series. It's called “The Glorious Biblical Description of a Baby Conceiving and Growing in the Womb.” Of course, we're going to look at the passage in Psalm 139, verses 13-18.

Perhaps you are an older mother who is listening, and you think, “Oh, I don't need to listen to this. I'll skip this podcast. I'm past childbearing.”

Just a minute, dear grandmother, dear single lady, whoever is listening. You don't have to be a mother who is having a baby to listen to this podcast. I believe that every person should hear what we're going to talk about in the next, however long it takes. Every child, every young person, every young mother, every older mother.

These words we're going to look at, they were not written by a mother having a baby. Who wrote these words? Of course, they are the inspired Words of God, but they were written by David, and David was a man. He never conceived or grew a baby in his womb. Yet it's a man, writing about the awe and the wonder of the beginning of life.

Every one of us, we began in the womb. I believe that God wants us to understand more of the awe and wonder of it. So, if a man, a real man, could write about it, I think every one of us should be listening, don't you?

I mean, who was David? David was a lion and a bear-killer. He was a giant killer, a king, a mighty warrior, a war strategist, a military war hero, a city builder, a skilled musician, an inventor of instruments, an anointed worshiper, and writer of poems. He was a father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. And yes, in the midst of this incredible life as a warrior, he took time, and the inspiration of God, to write about life beginning in the womb.

Recently, I was reading over it again, and I thought, “I'm going to look up some of these Hebrew words.” It was then that I was blown away. That's why, dear ladies, I want you to come with me, and look at this passage in a way that you've never looked at it before.

First of all, I'm just going to read it from the New Living Translation. And then we're going to go back to the King James and look at each Hebrew word. We will see so much more than we've ever seen before. This is the wonderful thing about God's Word. It's a book of adjectives and extravagant words. In fact, the words in this passage are already extravagant when we read them.

Then we look them up in the Hebrew, and we get more extravagant words to explain the fullness of the meaning. You're going to find it so exciting! Oh, come with me. I am just so excited myself!

But let’s just read it first, in the New Living Translation:

“You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body, and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank You for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in Your Book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are Your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, You are still with me!” (Psalm 139: 13-18 NLT).

Now, let's go and find out the depths and fullness of this picture, this revelation God gives to us.

My first point is . . .  

No. 1: God owns us. In verse 13, it says: “For Thou hast possessed my reins.”

First of all, what are “our reins”? In the Hebrew, it's the word kilyah, and physically, it's speaking of the kidneys. It's a plural word, because we have two kidneys.

But figuratively, because many words in the Bible are used figuratively, the word “reins” speaks of the mind, the heart, the very innermost recesses of our being. We read in Psalms 7:9: “The righteous God trieth the heart and the reins.” God looks and searches into the innermost depths of our being.

Ladies, and young people, and children, and older ladies listening, we see that God is involved, not only in the creating of our physical bodies, but in the creating of our inner souls and mind from the very moment of conception. He is involved in every part, from the very beginning. God is working, not only to create this physical human being, but the inner workings, the heart, and the soul, and the mind. Isn't that amazing?

If you have a little baby growing in your womb, God is already working on the very inner part of this child, too.

Now it says that God has possessed, possessed my reins. What does that mean? The word “possessed” in the Hebrew is qanah, and it means “to create, to procure by purchase, to own, to possess.” The word in most other Scriptures where that same word is used, is translated, “to purchase,” or “to buy.”

So, God begins, right at the very beginning in the womb, with ownership. From that moment of conception, God owns the baby. God owns each child. He's the Creator of the child. He owns. In Genesis 14:18, here we have Melchizedek saying: “Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor” (or owner, because that is the meaning,) of heaven and earth.”

If God owns heaven and earth, and everything in it, He also owns every single one of His creations. So, we are owned by God. Whatever age we are, we’re owned by God. We were owned from the very beginning of conception. If we are born again, and a believer in Jesus, we have been owned twice. We've been purchased twice, once at the very beginning of our lives (conception), and then, because of sin that took us away from fellowship with God, Jesus came and shed His blood to purchase us back. Such a beautiful thing!

Now, before I was married and still living in New Zealand, I used to work with Child Evangelism Fellowship. Some of you may be familiar with CEF. It's a wonderful organization that reaches out to children.

Before I was married, I would often go away on trips with Child Evangelism Fellowship. We'd reach out to the children on the beaches, and all the different places we could find children. We'd gather them, and we would tell them stories about Jesus. We'd use flashcards and different things to gain their attention.

One of the favorite stories I can remember sharing with children, and I had these flashcards to go with it, so the children could see the pictures as they listened to the story. I'd love to tell you the story. It won't take me a minute, but it's a beautiful story.

It's about this little boy. He painstakingly built a model sailboat. He spent so many days and weeks building it. When it was finally completed, he decided to test it out in the open water close to where he lived. So off he went, down to the water.

This little boy loved his boat, and he was so proud of it. First of all, he made sure the sails were set properly. And then he excitedly put the boat into the water. With great anticipation, he gently gave it a push. Off it went!

Oh, it sailed so perfectly! He was so excited. But unexpectedly, before the boy realized what was happening, the sailboat just kept going! It didn't stop. He hoped the wind would shift, but it didn't. The sailboat sailed rapidly off into the distance.

The boy waded out in the water to catch it, but it had gone too far. Gradually, the boat faded off into the distance and disappeared. It was gone. His precious boat that he had spent so much time making!

He went back to his home, crying to his mother. “What's wrong, what's wrong?” she asked. “Didn't it work?”

“Oh, it worked,” said the little boy. “But it sailed away! And now I haven't got my boat!”

Sometime later, the boy was walking downtown, and he passed a second-hand store, There, can you believe it? There, in the window, he saw the little sailboat that he had labored so hard to build. He just went up to that sailboat, and he picked it up, and he said to the store owner, as he was walking out, “Hey! This boat's mine!” Off he went, out the door, holding it in his arms.

But the owner shouted, “Hey, wait a minute now! That's my boat! I paid someone for that boat!”

The boy said, “No, no, no, it's my boat! I made it! Look, look at the little scratches. Look, look, this is where I put my initials on the bottom.”

The owner said, “I'm sorry, sonny. If you want it, you're going to have to pay for it.”

Well, this poor little boy, he didn't have any money. So he went home, and he had to start working. He had to get jobs to earn money. So he'd ask his mummy for jobs, and asked his neighbor if they had any work so they could give him some money, so he could save up for his very own sailboat.

He worked hard. He saved his pennies. Then one day, he had enough money. He went back to the store, and the little sailboat was still there. He bought back his own boat. As he left the store, holding the sailboat close to his chest, he said, “Little boat, you're my boat. You are twice my boat. First, you are my boat, because I made you. And second, you are my boat because I bought you.”

This is such a beautiful picture of us and our God. He owned us. He created us. Because He created us, He owned us, and it says it right here in this Scripture. He owns us, right in the womb. He owned us, right back there.

If you have a little baby growing in your womb, God owns your baby. Yes, it's your precious baby, but it's more God's baby. He's the One who created it. But then, of course, we turned away from God. We sinned. We cannot have fellowship with God when there is sin because He's a perfect God, But He sent His own beloved Son, Jesus, to give His life, to buy us back!

So when we receive Christ and His salvation, we are bought again. We are owned twice. First, He owned us by creation. Second, He owns us by salvation, and by giving His Son to shed His precious blood for us. There we have it. Let's go on.

No. 2: God covers us. Verse 13 continues, and it says: “Thou hast covered me in my mother's womb.” The word “covered” is the Hebrew word, cakak. It means “to fence in, to overshadow, to cover over, to protect, to hedge in, to shut up,” and “to defend.” As I said, ladies, we read these beautiful words in God's Word, and when we look them up in the Hebrew, we get so many more words to describe the fullness of the meaning. How beautiful that is.

Every baby that's growing in the womb, God is covering this baby. He's overshadowing it. He's protecting it. He's watching over it.

Our daughter Psalmody, she had a little baby a few months ago. But when she was only about four months into her pregnancy, her womb, her cervix began to open. It was quite scary for a little while. She went to the hospital, and they were very concerned about it. She had to go on bedrest for a few days.

They wanted her to come back so they could keep checking her. They were hoping they would be able to just stitch up and give her a cervical cerclage. But when she went back, it was still too soft. They couldn't even do the cerclage.

So, back to bedrest. She called out for prayer. We prayed over that little baby, and prayed that God would close up her cervix, and protect, and hedge, and shut in this little baby while it grew in the womb. God was so good; He answered that prayer.

When she went back again, she was fine! It was just a miracle, and she carried her baby to full term. That was such a beautiful miracle.

Now this same word that is used here, “to cover, and to hedge in, and to overshadow the baby in the womb” is the same word that is used of the cherubims in the Holy of Holies.

You will know that in the Holy of Holies, they had the Ark of the Covenant. On the Ark of the Covenant there was the Mercy Seat. Over the Mercy Seat there were the cherubims. The Bible tells us how their faces looked down on the Mercy Seat.

Now, talking about the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle, it says here in Exodus 25:20: “And the cherubim shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another; down toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be.”

They were looking downward with awe and wonder. They couldn't believe it, because in the Ark of the Covenant was the Law. Nobody could keep that Law, but over the Law was the Mercy Seat, speaking of Christ and shedding His precious Blood.

Just as the high priest had to go in once a year and sprinkle the blood over the Mercy Seat, that covered the Law that nobody could keep, it's only through Christ that we can find salvation.

Then we go on to the Scripture about the cherubim in the Temple. When Solomon built the Temple in Jerusalem, in 1 Chronicles 28:18, it says again that the cherubims spread out their wings, and they covered the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord.

I always like to look up other Scriptures that use exactly the same words. So, the word we have for God covering the baby in the womb, we get other pictures.

Let's look in Exodus 33:22, 23: “And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover thee with My hand while I pass by.”

This was God speaking to Moses, because Moses wanted to see God, but oh, he couldn't see the Face of God. So, God said: “I'll just cover you with My hand, and I'll make my glory pass by you, so you can stay alive.”

Psalm 91:4: “He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wings shalt thou trust,”

Psalm 140:7: “Thou hast covered my head in the day of battle.” Isn't that good? Starts off, God covers the little precious baby in the womb. Then when we get out into life, He's still covering us, and He even covers our head in the day of battle to protect us!

But do you remember? This word, “to cover,” also means “to defend.” That's very powerful. TO DEFEND. God is not only covering the baby in the womb, He is defending it. God is the Defender of the baby in the womb.

Psalm 5 11 says the same word that's used to cover the baby in the womb, the same word . . . it says that God defends those who put their trust in Him. But dear ladies, because God is the Defender of the baby in the womb, don't you think that we should also be defenders of the baby in the womb?

This is an hour in society when babies in the womb are at terrible risk. We've had 60 million precious babies murdered since Roe vs. Wade. Oh my. Why is that? Have we not been defending? Have God's people been too silent?

What does it say in Proverbs 31:8, 9? These are the two Scriptures immediately before that Scripture we all know, “Who can find a virtuous woman?” So, her price is far above rubies. Just before that Scripture it says: “Open your mouth for the mute, for the dumb, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend, defend the rights of the poor and needy.”

Dear precious ladies, we must be defenders of babies in the womb. We defend our own babies in the womb. We stand up to defend babies in other peoples' wombs. We stand up against abortion. We are not silent. We cannot be silent! God expects us to stand up.

This is often a challenge that comes to mothers, especially older mothers as they go in for their check-ups with doctors. Precious ladies, we don't have to go through all those tests, because we wouldn't do anything about it anyway, even if there was something wrong with our baby! Because we believe in life! We defend the baby in the womb.

We must remember that God has not finished while the baby is in the womb. Sometimes an ultrasound can show up something that doesn't look right, or the baby is behind where it should be. God is before us. God is doing His thing in His time.

I remember meeting a lovely young mother just recently. An ultrasound showed up that her baby had great problems in the womb, and caused such a great fear into her, and negativity during her pregnancy. It's a problem. These tests only put fears and negativity into young mothers. Anyway, her father said the very same words that I said to her. “Look, God hasn't finished yet. Trust God. He is working. He is creating your baby. Trust Him!”

And this baby was born. The problems that they had diagnosed did not come to pass. How many precious babies are being diagnosed with this and that, and even Down's Syndrome? And when they're born, if the mother keeps them, they are born perfectly fine!

Even if they aren't born perfectly, they are still life, and they are still God's creations! We must defend the babies.

Now right when I am speaking, there is a movie that is in some of the theaters in our nation. It's called Gosnell. It's about this abortion serial killer who aborted so many babies. It's a true story. I actually haven't been to it yet. I am hoping to go after this weekend, because I have to go away and speak this weekend.

Maybe you missed this movie. Maybe it didn't even come to your theaters. In fact, it came to the AMC Theaters near us. The very first weekend it played, it rose to number ten movie in the nation! Now that's pretty good. You'd think that the theater would keep it going.

But no, they just put it to the times of twelve o'clock, three o'clock. The people who are working could not go to see it. I was wanting to go, but I could not go in the day. I had too much to do in the day. They didn't even put it on at night. Then it abruptly disappeared from all the AMC Theaters!

So, we have been calling. I am encouraging others to call too. If you have an AMC Theater near you, and it didn't come to you, or just came very quickly, you can call them at 913-213-2000, and ask them why didn't this movie continue when it was very popular?

Fortunately, we have just found another place where they are showing it in a different theater. We will have to travel to go and see it, but we're going to see it, because apparently, it's the most powerful movie that's ever been put together on this subject. It's something that the whole nation needs to see. So we'll see what happens there. But let's be defenders of mothers and babies! Especially of precious babies growing in the womb.

Well, lovely ladies, we have just started out on this glorious description. We're going to find many more wonderful discoveries as we continue. But we'll continue next week.

Let's pray.

“Father, we thank You so much, that You are our Creator. You are the Creator of the baby in the womb. Lord God, from the very beginning of conception, You give life. You hold and You overshadow the baby in the womb. You own that baby from the moment of conception. We thank You, that You are so involved, oh God.

Oh Father, help us to see that Lord, You are involved. When babies are hampered, and worse, when they are murdered in the womb, oh God, that we are sinning against You, oh God, the very Creator, the Life-Giver. Oh Father, we cry out to You for the babies in the womb, and for Your protection over them. We pray for changes of heart in mothers.

We pray, oh God, You will move in our nation, and there will come changes in the laws in abortion. We pray that more and more will become defenders of the baby in the womb. Help us to always be defenders of the baby in the womb, and that we will open our mouths for the babies that cannot open their mouths. Oh God, we ask this in the precious Name of Jesus. Amen.”