Aslan is a lion- the Lion, the great Lion." "Ooh," said Susan. "I'd thought he was a man. Is he-quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion"..."Safe?" said Mr. Beaver ..." Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you.
C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Hebrews 10:31
The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law. Deuteronomy 29:29
Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just? Genesis 18:25
Though he slay me, I will hope in him; yet I will argue my ways to his face. Job 13:15
For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. 2 Corinthians 1:20
I'll never be more loved than I am right now Wasn't holding You up So there's nothing I can do to let You down It doesn't take a trophy to make You proud I'll never be more loved than I am right now, oh
Going through a storm but I won't go down I hear Your voice Carried in the rhythm of the wind to call me out You would cross an ocean so I wouldn't drown You've never been closer than You are right now (Let's sing it loud y'all)
You are Jireh, You are enough Jireh, You are enough And I will be content in every circumstance You are Jireh, You are enough
Lyrics of Song Jireh by Elevation Worship and Maverick City Music[1]
Evangelicalism, when properly practiced, is doggedly Pro-Life without apology and exception. We are so because we take our cue from Almighty God. Almighty God makes the sacredness of life abundantly clear in the early pages of the Holy Writ (Gen 9:5), and that explicitness never wavers at any point throughout God’s revelation.
Genesis 9:6 shows that taking innocent human life is an attack on the image of God, so it must be punished by death. Man, as the image of God, is to be a giver of life, not a taker of innocent life. When we become murderers, we contradict our purpose in life and forfeit the divine protection that ordinarily covers us. So special is our life to God that even a beast is put to death if it takes the life of a human being (Gen. 9:5, Ex. 21:28–32).[2]
As much as I resolutely bend the knee to God’s Sovereignty, especially regarding the estimated sixty-three million lives that America has murdered since the enactment of Roe v. Wade, I am staggered by the realization that as high as twenty-five percent of pregnancies never come to full-term through natural means, i.e., miscarriage. In other words, an untold higher number of fertilizations never comes into existence by the sheer sovereign decision of Almighty God.[3]
Miscarriage is the spontaneous loss of a pregnancy before the 20th week. About 10 to 20 percent of known pregnancies end in miscarriage. But the actual number is likely higher because many miscarriages occur very early in pregnancy — before you [the woman] might even know about a pregnancy.[4]
Dr. Albert Mohler hosts a daily podcast, The Briefing. Dr. Mohler frequently takes listener questions on Fridays. Editor's Note: Please let me express if you ever have a theological question you would like to ask me I would love to interact with you. You can post your questions on my website (link below):
During the Friday, January 20, 2023, podcast Dr. Mohler was asked this biting question by a skeptical listener, “Riddle me this, if God knows us before we were in the womb, why do about 25% of miscarriages occur spontaneously? Often of a child that was planned and wanted. Doesn’t that make God the most prolific abortionist? No one ever gives me an answer for this phenomenon. I would appreciate the favor of a reply to my query. Thank you.”
I wonder how you, the reader, would respond if confronted with this very question. Regardless of the questioner's cynical and hostile nature, his inquiry's legitimacy is undeniable. According to Holy Scriptures, Evangelicals must always stand ready to give an answer for our hope.
So, how would an Evangelical seeking to be faithful to the Word of God in the face of an increasingly skeptical and cynical world respond?
Hopefully, you are seasoned enough in the Word of God to respond confidently along these lines:
The God of the Bible is altogether Sovereign
The God of the Bible is altogether Good
Everything .an altogether Good & Sovereign God does within time, and space is necessarily Right.
The fact that a thrice-holy God can decree that a male sperm fuses with a female ovum but never materialize into life being brought from the womb without any human involvement whatsoever is undoubtedly within the purview of a Sovereign Being who does not answer to anyone.
Likely you are like me in that you have experienced a pregnancy that never reached full-term through the non-active involvement of any human being. My mother had what would have been my baby sister born stillborn when I was about seven years old. I still vividly remember the hollowness that enveloped our entire household when my mother returned from the hospital without the highly anticipated new addition. The glum hung for such an indeterminate amount of time.
I try never to live with regret, but I often have pondered about the absence of both grandfathers [paternal and maternal] in my life and the little sister I never had. My family's profound loss was not the result of an active rebellion against God’s freedom to create life. My mother and father wanted this baby girl. My brothers and I wanted this baby sister, yet God permitted my parents to conceive, only to experience the pangs of death of a deeply wanted and presumably planned child.
The obvious question is why a Good God would allow expectant parents to plan and want a child. Remember the biting question of the skeptic questioner Dr. Mohler shared during his January 20 podcast, only to face the devastation of the loss of the child.
Evangelicals humbly confess there are never easy answers to vexing questions like this. More importantly, Evangelicals must never fail to acknowledge the genuine pain, and grief hopeful mothers and fathers have dealt with since the Fall, but using the skillful storytelling of C.S. Lewis, Evangelicals remember Aslan, the Lion character depicting Jesus Christ in Lewis’ book The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Lucy asked Mr. Beaver if Aslan was safe. Mr. Beaver replied, “Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you.
I would submit Lewis did a masterful job of portraying the character of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is not safe. The Bible teaches, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” Hebrew 10:31. Jesus Christ is not safe, but Evangelicals down through the years have rested most peaceably in the unassailable fact that Jesus Christ, while not safe, is nonetheless Good.
Father Abraham clearly understood this truth when the Angel of the Lord visited him in Genesis 18. The Angel of the Lord [the Pre-Incarnate Jesus Christ] was on His way to investigate what was going on in Sodom and Gomorrah.[5] After finding out the Angel of the Lord's intention of pouring His wrath out on Sodom and Gomorrah, the Holy Writ [Genesis 18:25} records Abraham saying, “Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?”
So while I will always seek to come alongside anyone who experiences the tragedy of a miscarriage with utter compassion and pastoral care, I still nonetheless draw my supreme comfort that in Jesus Christ, there is only Yes and Amen. He is incapable of mistakes or miscalculations, and He is utterly incapable of sinning.
Evangelicals draw our strength not from naively addressing the Why questions of this fallen and sin-cursed world. No, Evangelicals draw our strength, our resolve, and our unwavering faith in God’s revelation that adequately addresses, yet never fully, in this world or the next, the Who question?
The Who question addresses these truths:
The God of the Bible is altogether Sovereign
The God of the Bible is altogether Good
Everything an altogether Good & Sovereign God does within time and space is necessarily Right.
Even as cynics foolishly believe that they are throwing legitimate doubt on the plausibility of how a Good God can permit up to 25% of pregnancies never to come to full term, this conundrum does not stain or blight the character or nature of the thrice-holy God of the Bible in the slightest.
Two things can be true at the same time.
1) Abortion is an egregious wrong that a thrice-holy God must and will judge
2) God not permitting life to reach full-term is wholly His Divine Right as the Potter. What legitimate right does the clay have to object to why the Potter fashions His clay as He delights
The unvarnished truth is that more babies die from miscarriage than will ever die from the brutal and repulsive act of abortion, and NO, that does not make God the most prolific abortionist. Job responded properly to God’s Sovereign right to rule and reign. Job said, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, "And he said, 'Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD'” (Job 1:21).
When confronted with perplexing questions of why Evil exists in general and why God allows babies to miscarry in particular, reflect on the following chorus of Jireh by Elevation Worship and Maverick City Music.
You are Jireh, You are enough. Jireh, You are enough. And I will be content in every circumstance. You are Jireh, You are enough.
Not in most circumstances, not in the majority of circumstances, but as the Apostle Paul learned, I yearn to learn to be content in every circumstance. Why, might you ask? Because Jesus Christ is Jireh, and Jesus Christ is enough!
If you have never bent the knee to Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, I implore you to be reconciled to Him today. He is the only hope in this world and the world beyond.
I have ceased posting from https://wordpress.com/home/keepingyourhandtotheplow.blog.
My new blog post is https://www.thinkingcriticallyfromanevangelicalworldview.com/blog
As always, let me know what you think. Until then, keep your hands to the plow and seek to serve for an Audience of One.
With fear and trembling,
Ricky Kyles DEd.Min
[1] Full lyrics https://www.google.com/search?q=jireh+lyrics&oq=Jireh&aqs=chrome.2.0i271j46i67i131i433j0i67i433l3j0i67l2j46i175i199i512j0i512l2.2958j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 [2] https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/imago-dei
[3] Whereas before, the common expression was life begins at conception, I have since learned it is more precise to posit life begins at fertilization. Fertilization occurs when the male sperm fuses with the female egg creating an embryo. Conception takes place when the embryo successfully implants into the uterus.
[4] https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/pregnancy-loss-miscarriage/symptoms-causes/syc-20354298 [5] I believe the Angel of the Lord to be a Christophany which is a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament
I appreciate the question that was submitted to Dr. Mohler - thought provoking! God allows what He allows, He’s the Potter and I am but clay. I too have had close familial relationships where miscarriages have occurred and I think about those occurrences often! I love God and submit to Him in ALL things, not just those things that I have a good grasp on, ALL THINGS!