We can say with absolute assurance that God ALONE decides which family a person is born into. He KNOWS ALL ABOUT US and in fact He has a grand purpose for us. Scripture teaches us that He DESIGNED OUR BODIES and He has DETERMINED THE DAYS OF OUR LIVES (including the day we are born, the details of our life, and the day we die). How can I make these bold statements? We will look at Psalm 139:13-18 to answer that question.

Verses 13-15: “For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth” (NKJV). The Psalmist David speaks about himself in these verses but these words could be spoken by every member of the human race. Before we were even born God, the Divine Architect, formed us in our mother’s womb! During this miraculous development He determined everything about us—the color of our skin, hair and eyes, our facial features, our personalities, and the physical and mental abilities we would have. The words “You COVERED me in my mother’s womb” express this truth, for the word “cover” is a Hebrew word (sakak) which means “to weave, to knit together,” as “one who weaves cloth, or who makes a basket.” The thought is that God “weaved together every part of us.” He is our Creator, and we are the works of His Hands! There are those today who do not consider an unborn baby a living person, but this passage refutes that view. Each believer exclaims along with David, “I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made,” knowing that from the moment of conception to our actual birth, we were a living being that was being formed by God’s marvelous design and according to His perfect will for us.

Verses 16-18: “Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them. How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; when I awake, I am still with You.” David speaks here of his “unformed substance” and how God’s eyes beheld him! Again, people talk about an “undeveloped fetus” being a lifeless mass of tissue, but God sees us as a person and knows every intricate detail of our lives. We already mused on how He knows all about our physical and mental make-up, but here we also learn that He knew “the days fashioned for me.” What does this mean? As stated earlier, it means that He knew the day of our birth, the details of our life, and the day of our death. It would also include what the enquirer was wondering about, for He decided what family we would be born into (who are parents would be and what siblings we would have). He KNOWS EVERYTHING ABOUT US and in His infinite love and wisdom He has the perfect life planned for us. No wonder David could say, “How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them!” And this should be the language of our hearts, for we too should humbly and gratefully acknowledge that “we are fearfully and wonderfully made,” and that God has planned a wonderful life for us.

Let’s face it though, in order for us to really enter into these precious truths, we must be saved and we must yield our lives to Him so that His plan for us can unfold. If you have been saved by “believing on the Lord Jesus Christ” (see Acts 16:31), you can then yield your life to Him to experience His amazing will. Romans 12:1-2 read, “Present your bodies a living sacrifice to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, THAT YOU MAY PROVE WHAT IS THAT GOOD AND ACCEPTABLE AND PERFECT WILL OF GOD.” (261.9) (DO)