At the Church where I pastor, it is no new thing for us to talk about the uncomfortable reality of abortion. This is a topic, that by God’s grace, our entire congregation has grown a biblical passion for understanding, for praying, and for engaging. It is a sweet thing to be surrounded by Christians who do not want to shy away from the difficult topics, but who want to study with our Bibles open in order to see the world around us through God’s eyes.
Over the years as I have preached on this topic, I have met quite a few women in our congregation, and beyond our congregation, that have informed me that they have had abortions in the past, and that they are grateful for careful biblical exposition on the topic. Some of these women are bold and courageous voices today, passionately trying to care for women with unplanned pregnancies and their pre-born babies.
And so I begin another blog post that will address this topic as I always do, with a introduction of grace, hope, and pastoral care for moms who have had abortions, and fathers who have participated in abortions. Abortion is a sin, a very real and tragic sin. And while it is important for us to allow God’s law to interpret our sin properly, and to give us a heavy sense of the consequences of our sin, it is also critical that the law always point us forward to grace. In Christ, every sin is atoned for. My story, and your story if you are in Christ, is that of ‘sinner saved by grace.’
For those in need of a Biblical sermon shaping our worldview on this topic, I recommend this sermon from last year as I preached through Psalm 106.
This week I attended a gathering of pastors around the Chicagoland area that fed my soul deeply. A very well known pastor whom I respect deeply and have been inspired by over the years, was in Chicago to discuss a bill in the Illinois senate that would abolish abortion. We gathered as pastors to learn more about the background of this bill, the people involved, the challenges faced, and how we as pastors and ministry leaders could faithfully seek justice for the pre-born in our own state.
As we discussed and listened, one passage that continued to arise in the discussion was Proverbs 24:10-12.
Proverbs 24:10-12 "If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small. Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, “Behold, we did not know this,” does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will he not repay man according to his work?"
Verse 11, which sits in the middle of these three verses seems to provide two separate but related commands that we as faithful Christians are to act upon. First, we are to “rescue those who are being taken away to death.” Second we are to “hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter.” These sentences, at first glance, appear as two separate situations which the Christian should intervene. The first pertaining to a victim of injustice, and the second pertaining to a person who is out of their minds and slipping towards death.
Upon a more careful analysis of the text however, it seems these two sentences in verse 11 are actually repeating the same idea in slightly different ways. The NET translation helpfully captures this, “Deliver those being taken away to death, and hold back those slipping to the slaughter.” The general idea is that God holds people accountable for rescuing those who are in mortal danger.
There are indeed all kinds of scenarios throughout human history where this verse could apply. One might easily think of an inmate on death row, who you believe is innocent. In such a situation, this verse commands the Christian to not sit idly by while an innocent life is taken. In fact, it would be sin to allow such an injustice to be carried out with no effort on your own part to stop it.
The couching of verse 11 between verses 10 and 12 paint a very personal sense about the situation, one that we can relate to. Verse 10 reads, “If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small.” This speaks to cowardice. This speaks against those who are bold when in the confines of safety, but shrink away or grow quiet when danger presents itself. In the case of the death row inmate suggested above, it means that its not enough to simply talk about his innocence from a distance, the Christian must act, and take whatever hardships come as a result square in the jaw. In the case of abortion, it means being unafraid to stand confidently on a biblical vision of justice, even when an entire city tells you that you are a fool for doing so.
Likewise verse 12, presents the most common argument for why we allow the innocent to perish. “If you say, “Behold, we did not know this,” does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?” The way this is written describes a Christian who chose to turn a blind eye to the injustice, hoping they could claim ignorance on the last day. But their pretend ignorance is foolish, for God sees all and weighs the human heart in its entirety. When it comes to abortion, this means that we are without excuse for not taking some kind of concern or action.
Today, there are over 1,500,000 abortions annually in America. That’s one abortion every 21 seconds. Since 1973 at least 64,000,000 abortions have been recorded in America. While these are uncomfortable facts, they are the facts. And while secular culture has attempted to whitewash the reality of abortion in coded language like “women’s rights” and “women’s healthcare,” abortion is neither a “right” nor “healthcare.” To learn more about the present state of abortion, consider this article.
For the last five years or so I have been occasionally visiting abortion clinics in Chicago where a team of us pray for women and try to assist women with unplanned pregnancies to choose life, to save their baby, and get the support they need. The team I’ve partnered with has seen nearly a hundred babies saved in the last year. They have thrown baby showers, and we have gotten to hold the babies in our hands that were “being taken away to death.” Every time I go to a clinic, I am still in awe how steady the stream of folks coming in for an abortion is. This morning, in about ninety minutes, we saw at least fifteen women head into the clinic. Oh, my heart breaks for them, and for the lives of the vulnerable pre-born! I long for a just world.
I write this post today simply as a reflection on Proverbs 24:10-12. As I have committed this passage to memory this week, I have felt a deep conviction that my efforts in this area are far too small. Because I love God, I love justice! Because I love justice, I do not ever want to treat injustice as something easy to pass by or turn a blind eye to. Abortion is not a trivial thing, it is the unjust taking of a human life, a soul made in the image of God. No matter how “normal” the world around us attempts to make it, may we never grow so jaded that it becomes “normal” in our own heart. It is not normal. It is awful.
Today, I am praying for this bill in the Illinois state legislator. It is a bill of abolition, and therefore it is a bill of justice. I’m praying that God, over the coming years, will open a great opportunity to see this justice become a reality in Illinois.
