My Precious Life
I was reading Psalm 35 and a phrase that King David wrote jumped out at me because of how beautifully it reveals the sacredness of humanity.
David may have written these words during a time when he was being hunted by Saul, and he was pouring out his heart to God, asking God to rise to his defense. Toward the middle of Psalm 35 he declares, “Like the ungodly they maliciously mocked; they gnashed their teeth at me. O Lord, how long will you look on?” And then he says this: “Rescue my life from their ravages, My precious life from these lions.
My – precious – life. David viewed his life as precious. I looked up the meaning of that Hebrew word, and it means “solitary”, “only one.” Maybe David was thinking “this is the only life I’m ever going to have, Lord –I want to live – please save me!” Or maybe David was thinking “my life is the only one like it, Lord. If I am extinguished, there will be no other me.” Whatever the case, he acknowledged before God that his life was precious / unique / one-of-a-kind.
That phrase is also true for YOU. YOUR life is precious. It is the one life you have to live. You are the only you God has ever made or ever will make. That phrase is also true for every pre-born baby. That baby’s life—regardless of how small, how early in development, how unseen—is precious. Unique. One-of-a kind. The only one like it that will ever exist.
When we view our very own lives and the lives of others as precious, we align our thinking with God’s correct thinking. Every human being – past, present and future, born and preborn – can say “my precious life” and it would be TRUE, because of God.
To God be the glory!