10. God Created Man and Woman from the Womb (Psalm 139:13-16)

Do you praise God for how He created you? It’s amazing how popular Psalm 139 is and yet its example is not often heeded. This text is a silver bullet in the abortion discussion, and it should be. However, with the rise of the transgender and radical feminist movement dominating our culture, I think this text strikes at the heart of the agenda of both. But it is important for Christians to ask themselves if they have followed David’s example of praising YHWH for how He has created them, all the way down to their gender.

After David praises God for the amazing reality that there is no where he can go where the Spirit of God is not with Him, that the eyes of Lord see him in the darkest places, he shifts to God’s work of creating him in his mother’s womb.

David is in awe that he is the creation of the Lord. He was woven like a fabric in the most secret place that no one can see or is able to see with the naked eye - his mother’s womb. If we read this at a glance it may sound arrogant for David to say that God made him so wonderfully, but this is actually a sign of humility. David is recognizing that He is the Lord’s possession by virtue of creation. He admires the Lord’s work. The human body is a marvel. We know far more now about human anatomy and its inner workings than David did. The study of bones, muscles, arteries, veins, nerves, and fibers - our central nervous system alone has such intricacy that legions of books could be written about it and have been. Our body is constantly working, and we have no awareness of it as we move throughout our day. We have much to thank God for in this regard.

However, the recognition of our lack of control of our design and origin should drive us to immense humility. David had no say, concerning the time of his conception, the family he would be born into, his eye color, hair color, his height, the color of his skin, or his gender. God is the one who decided all that. God being perfect in all His ways, created David according to His desire and by the counsel of His will. The Lord doesn’t make mistakes.

Contrast David’s mentality with the transgender agenda. If God is the one who decides our biological sex by the counsel of His will, then to reject this and attempt to change it is dishonoring because it implies that God made a mistake. It is to take the place of God. It is a rejection of God’s sovereign authority. It is gross idolatry to attempt to change one’s gender. It is to put feelings above reality. It also devalues both sexes. The making of a human being, while a biological process, is also the intimate divine handiwork of God according to the Scripture. Being male or female goes all the way to the core of a person. God has made it so it cannot be undone by merely changing external dress, body parts, or even injecting of hormones. You cannot boil down what a man or a woman is merely by their external features. We are too intricately woven together by God’s mighty hand. Our gender will even follow us into eternity. If you are male or female now, you will be as you are into the new heavens and earth.

We are so wonderfully made on the deepest level that to reject our biological sex has devastating impacts upon our mind and souls. Suppressing the truth of God always leads to further sinfulness and debasement of the mind. Many transgenders commit suicide because they have attempted to reject reality, mainly the reality of how God has made them. You can only reject reality and embrace delusion for so long. Eventually you will break in some way. Unfortunately, many, even those who call themselves Christians will engage in pronoun hospitality. Pronoun hospitality is allowing an individual to dictate what pronoun they choose to be addressed as, regardless of their actual biological sex, and responding in kind. This, however, is unloving and unbiblical because we as Christians value the truth. Practicing pronoun hospitality is just re-enforcing a lie. The Church should point them to the truth—to repentance and faith in Christ, through biblical counseling.

Again, this text shows us that fundamentally, the transgender movement has a worship problem. However, it is also an indictment of the radical feminist movement. Psalm 139 makes it clear that it is mothers God chooses to use in His creation of human life. This is an immense honor, and it is bestowed only upon women. For the radical feminist movement, motherhood is oppression. But how could this be when we take a biblical perspective? The bearing of children is so uniquely tied to femininity that all throughout Scripture, women are crushed at the possibility that they may not be able to participate in this honor. This is something only the female gender is designed to do and is seen as an immense blessing.

Psalm 128 says that the wife of a man who fears the Lord shall be like a fruitful vine within the house, and the children like olive shoots around his table. Now this text is primarily speaking of her being fruitful in childbearing, but it goes deeper than that. A God-fearing woman will produce life and vitality in a home, things that uniquely spring from her femininity as a home maker. Adam was unable to perform his task to “fill the earth, subdue it, and have dominion (Gen.1:28)" apart from Eve. Women are just as vital for humankind to have God glorifying dominion as men. Of course, it would be criminal to fail to mention the honor it is that a woman bore the Messiah who came to save us. Christ entered this world by the power of the Holy Spirit, knitting Him together in the womb of a woman. No man will ever have that privilege.

For the sake of clarity, I would like to mention that if a woman has not or is unable to bear a child, this does not make her less of a woman. The reason I put emphasis on this aspect of femininity is because of how passionately it is attacked. Paul in his letter to the woman at Ephesus states, “Yet she will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control (1Timothy 2:15).” This passage has been highly debated in regard to how it should be interpreted. But I think there is a clear principle Paul is trying to establish for the women at Ephesus. This verse comes after Paul has explained that woman should not occupy positions of authority in the church over men. I believe he states this here as an encouragement for women to embrace their female virtues. He appears to be saying that women will feel most fulfilled when they embrace their femininity and proper roles in a Christ glorifying way. How Christian women conduct themselves as they embrace their design in these God-ordained roles is a defense against the Word of God being reviled by the world around us (Titus 2:4). This is true for all Christian women, whether they can bear children or not.

As for men, it is hard to feel at all useful if you are examining yourself by modern liberal metrics or frameworks. Masculinity is inherently toxic according to them. However, it is clear from a biblical perspective that masculinity is not toxic but rather sin in both the sexes is. Man even in the perfection of Eden was designed to be stronger than a woman, just as a woman was able to bear children in paradise. The narrative of today says that if disparity of any kind exists, then oppression is taking place. Men are stronger than women, therefore they are inherently oppressive. But this cannot be the case because Adam was stronger than Eve even before sin came into the world. That strength was to be used for the protection and provision of his wife. Man’s strength, physical design, and even his testosterone are all things that God uses so man can fulfill his God-ordained role of taking dominion in this world for the glory of God. Sir, you have been designed from the beginning to be a man and it is very good. Your sin is what must be done away with, not your masculinity.

Both sexes must trust in the Christ who was woven together by the power of the Spirit in the womb of the virgin Mary, and lived a perfect life without sin for He is fully God and fully Man. He went to the cross bearing the sins of His people, both man and woman. He suffered under the wrath of God in our place, paying the full penalty for sin. On that cross, He died but He did not stay dead! Three days later, He rose from the dead in glorious victory! Forty days later, He ascended into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God the Father. He sits there as the God-Man! He calls all people to repent and believe upon Him for their salvation. Only this glorious King can save us from our just fate of an eternity in Hell for our sins. Though in sin did our mothers conceive us (Psalm 51:5), and we have practiced great iniquity in thought, word, and deed, some of us even to the point of attempting to reject our God-given genders and proper roles. We can be redeemed and restored. Christ is able to cleanse you of all unrighteousness today!

Every day of your life in the gender God has assigned has been ordained.

God was faithful in weaving you together at your most vulnerable state. You can trust Him with your soul and the days that lie ahead. Man or woman, He created you to glorify him and enjoy Him forever. So be thankful and praise Him for how He created you.

Work Cited

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016)