“You
created my inmost being; You knit me together in my
mother’s womb” (Psalm 139:13)
I’ve been a “reader” almost all my
life and am blessed with books. Sometime after my
friend of thirty years, Pastor John Anthony, went to be
with the Lord, his widow, Frances, called and gave me
essentially his whole library. Recently our dear
friend, Mary Thomas, passed on, and her nephew, Chuck,
gave me HER library. I have so many books I don’t know
what to do with them all, except – I’ve been reading
them!
One of them is called, “Soul
Survivor, How My Faith Survived the Church,” by
an author named Philip Yancey. It’s essentially a
sketch of the author’s own struggle, interwoven with
biographies of key people who helped bring him out of
anger to find peace with God.
The book includes a biographical
examination of the life of Dr. Paul Brand, a medical
doctor who was an amazing help to lepers in many
countries. He gave his life to those who previously had
been shunned by the world, restoring the use of their
hands through innovative surgery. He also devised an
intriguing technique that saved their eyesight. He and
his wife, Margaret, learned to tunnel a muscle normally
used for chewing up under the cheek and attach it to the
upper eyelid. By chewing gum all day long, their
patients simultaneously moved their eyelids up and down,
lubricating the eyes and averting the blindness that
came simply because they had lost the ability to blink!
The author, Mr. Yancey, had lots of
complaints about God, and they surfaced in his talks
with Dr. Brand, who answered with God’s miracle – the
human body. At one point, the doctor ended a discussion
about the human hand with a quote from Isaac Newton: “In
the absence of any other proof, the thumb alone would
convince me of God’s existence.”
I was especially taken by Dr.
Brand’s discussion about the ductus arteriosus
which is a “bypass vessel,”
normally routing blood directly to a fetus’s
extremities, instead of to the lungs. “At
the moment of birth,” Dr. Brand was saying, “suddenly
all blood must pass through the lungs to receive oxygen
because now the baby is breathing air. In a flash, a
flap descends like a curtain, deflecting the blood flow,
and a muscle constricts the ductus arteriosus.
After performing that one act, the muscle gradually
dissolves and gets absorbed by the rest of the body.”
Dr. Brand concluded, “Without
this split-second adjustment, the baby could never
survive outside the womb.” Actually, there are
times when the process DOESN’T happen like it should,
causing problems for the baby.
But birth IS a miracle! Dr.
Brand’s observation is very intriguing evidence that GOD
created us all, because a blind, evolutionary process
that led gradually or suddenly to the development of
mankind does not explain the amazing ductus
arteriosus. We are drawn instead to agree with
David’s statement of praise to God: “You
created my inmost being; You knit me together in my
mother’s womb” (Psalm 139:13).
You may recall a previous sermon in
which I spoke about my personal journey toward accepting
the Virgin Birth. When I was in Bible College, years
ago, I discovered to my surprise that I did not believe
in the Virgin Birth of our Lord. No matter how much I
tried, I just could not believe. It was then that the
Lord nudged me to choose the Virgin Birth as the subject
of a term paper, and He used the research to heal my
unbelief.
The Virgin Birth IS a miracle!
From Dr. Brand’s comments to Mr. Yancy, we know that
BIRTH is a miracle, but in the case of Y’shua (Jesus),
it is carried a step further. God carefully designed
the human body with the intention that a monogamous
relationship between a husband and wife would be the
vehicle for the entry of human beings into this world.
He allowed thousands of years to pass so that we would
become accustomed to His plan, and then He deliberately
went against His own design, so that all history would
understand in the birth of His Son, that God came to
live among us.
The reason that we as people have
not believed in the miraculous birth of the Son of God
is no different than my problem while in college: as a
race, we are unbelievers! We don’t see the miracles all
around us and we don’t believe the eye witness testimony
of those who saw the miracles of Jesus Christ because we
don’t WANT to see. Many hope that God is so far off
that He just doesn’t know what’s going on with the world
- a God who is instead near and has a plan for you might
indeed want something from you.
God IS up close and personal. He
KNOWS the troubles you are going through right now. He
has allowed them to continue for your good – He will use
the circumstances of your life to build character. And
the great bonus is this: He is allowing your life to be
just as it is so that you will be drawn to reach out and
TRUST in the Lord. He has MORE for you than just your
personal comfort. He has in mind your ETERNAL security.
The birth of any baby is a miracle,
for that child is designed by God and is precious In His
sight. YOU are precious in His sight. He placed
miracles into the human body, like the thumb, the eye
and the ductus arteriosus so that you might know
He is real. He gave the Son of God, Jesus Christ, into
this world, as a miracle, so you might know He loves
you.
Have you been hurt by the visible
church? Mr. Yancy had been deeply hurt, and He, as so
many others do, blamed his pain on God. When he asked
Dr. Brand the question, “Where
is God when it hurts?” he learned that part of
the answer is found in a more accurate question: “Where
is the church when it hurts?” Our concern with
God is really with people.
God is doing a tender, loving work
in your life which He expects you to eventually
understand. Mr. Yancy quoted the Jewish theologian
Abraham Heschel: The question,“
Why does the God of justice and compassion permit evil
to persist? is bound up with the problem of how man
should aid God so that his justice and compassion
prevail.”
The Lord is doing a powerful work
in you. His aim is not so much that you will be pleased
with that work, though He would like that. His chief
goal is that you will give up your anger and FINALLY
TRUST Him implicitly, giving your heart and life to His
purposes in the lives of others in their need. You will
never have lasting happiness any other way.
Lord, You “created
my inmost being; (and)
knit me together in my mother’s womb.” Thank You…
Thank You for the miracle of Your Son. I trust in Him
now. In Jesus Name. Amen.
