God shapes us from our mother’s womb
Psalm 139: 13-16
For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. 
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.
We all have something in common: we were conceived, gestated in, and birthed from our mother’s womb.
In a generation where the maternal is undervalued and even despised, it is good to be reminded of the preciousness of the maternal heart and the sacred place of the womb.
The Hebrew word for womb is racham and is translated as mercy and compassion. We can say simply that God sculpted a place of compassion inside a female. In the New Testament, the Greek word for womb is koilia, the place where a baby is conceived and nourished. The word womb symbolizes fertility, potential or flourishing.
Art historian and social critic Camille Paglia makes a profound observation: “[A] woman’s body is a secret, sacred space … The female body is the prototype of all sacred spaces from cave shrine to temple and church. The womb is the veiled Holy of Holies …”[1]
God conceived of the womb, Jesus was conceived in the womb
God sanctifies the womb of ordinary women. Incredibly, Jesus lived for nine months in his mother’s womb. The place He conceived as God was the place where He was conceived as man. Lilian Calles Barger, in her book, Eve’s Revenge, writes, “Recovering Mary of Nazareth from perpetual virginity and perfection will allow us to see the possibilities that God can and does work through the ordinariness of our flesh.”
God chose to enter the world through the body of an everyday woman. Barger continues,
A holy God enters the bloodiness of the womb, considered unclean under Jewish law, and makes it a temple. In the womb of a woman the eternal and transcendent Word by which the worlds were created becomes flesh.
The scriptural phrase “my mother’s womb” has often intrigued me. The phrase itself is found over a dozen times in scripture. One of the most profound concepts is that our calling, our vocation, is from our mother’s womb.
The Apostle Paul acknowledges this in Galatians 1:15-16: “But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles …”
This is fascinating. Paul was probably in his thirties when he was called by Christ to salvation and to his vocation, his earthly assignment (Acts 22:11). Yet he understood that his calling began from his mother’s womb.
We have been made for a purpose.
Called from the womb
The prophet Isaiah had the same understanding. In Isaiah 49:1 we read, “The LORD called Me from the womb.” Then in verse 5, “And now says the LORD, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant, To bring Jacob back to Him, so that Israel might be gathered to Him.” Isaiah knew was formed and called from his mother’s womb for a purpose.
The maternal womb is not simply a physical place in a woman’s body, sculpted by God; it is also a sacred place where we are beautifully and wonderfully made for an eternal purpose. The evolutionary framework states that we are here by some cosmic accident. There is no creator, only time and chance. No wonder people wander through life trying to find out Why am I here? What is the meaning and purpose of life? Is human life simply a chasing after the wind?
No. The maternal womb is a sacred place where you were formed for a purpose. You were called from your mother’s womb.
God knew you before your mother conceived you (Jer. 1:5). He has formed us in the womb (Psa. 139:13). He has been our God from our mother’s womb (Psalm 22:10). God has carried us from the womb (Isa. 46:1). He has given us our identity (Judges 13:7; 16:17) from our mother’s womb.
The maternal womb is a place of mystery and wonder. A woman has a sacred place in her body where the hand of God is at work creating a new and unique human being.
You are beautifully and wonderfully made, for a God-ordained purpose. And He calls you forth from “your mother’s womb.” Let us celebrate the maternal and give thanks for the life giver.
Two womb stories
Daniella Rose, for twelve years a “music missionary,” has now experienced the wonder of conceiving, carrying and birthing a child. Being a mother has led her to reflect on Psalm 139:13-16. Enjoy her music video revealing what takes place in the mother’s womb: Wonderfully Made.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXaPwHPqJi4?rel=0
Here is another woman’s story. Paula Page survived an abortion and lived to tell about it. Hear from her own lips how God saved her from her mother’s womb. “The Lord saved my life before I was born, while I was still in my mother’s womb.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQgt43imvkg?rel=0
– Darrow Miller
[1] Paglia, Camille. Free Women, Free Men (p. 34). Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
Print this page
