Death at Birth
Scripture: When you assist the Hebrew women in childbirth, observe at the delivery: if it is a boy, kill him, but if it is a girl, then she may live.” 17But the midwives feared God, and they did not do what the king of Egypt had told them; they let the boys live. (Exodus 1:16-17 NET)
Observation: The Egyptians were worried that the Israelites would grow in umber so that they would become an overpowering majority, so they ordered the Egyptian midwives to kill the male babies born to Israelite women. The midwives, however, were God fearing women and did not obey those orders. As an aside, God rewarded the midwives for their actions.
Application: So many look for reasons to excuse the objectionable, unethical, and immoral abuse and destruction of children under the guise of doing what’s best for others. The traffic of children continues around the world – children sold to a life of forced labor or to lives of physical and/or sexual abuse. Others excuse abortion on demand for the sake of the women who do not wish to have babies, for victims of incest or rape, or for unwanted pregnancies for teen mothers. In some countries the birth of a baby girl is frowned upon and in some places parents are penalized for having more than one child and particularly if they are girls using the excuse of wanted to control the population growth of their country and thus protecting the population in general. Majorities worry about the growth of minority groups who may one day overtake them to become the ruling group and thus they would excuse genocide in order to protect their culture, ideas, or way of life.
We are called upon to protect and help our children, not to harm them, before or after birth. If children are a blessing from the Lord, how can we justify abortion on demand? And with so many childless couples, if someone has experienced an unexpected pregnancy, why not consider giving that child up for abortion instead of ending prematurely an innocent life. As much as God blessed the midwives for respecting the sanctity of life, so He blesses the people who respect the sanctity of life today by refusing to abort their child, even if unplanned.
A Prayer You May Say: Loving Father, thank You for the gift of children. May we always be loving of them and may we respect the sanctity of life so that the consideration of abortion or abuse of children never be permitted, condoned, of encouraged in any way, through word or action.
Used by permission of Adventist Family Ministries, North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists.
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