Yesterday was Mother’s Day 2005, and I preached a message on three women in the beginning of the gospel of Luke—Elizabeth, Mary, and Anna. While I was preparing for the message; though, God helped me to understand something that I had never really seen before. There are no unplanned pregnancies.
This was a profound thought to me, but consider with me why I can make such a claim based on the teaching of the Bible.
- Elizabeth, and many other women in the Bible were barren until it was God’s time to give them a very special child (Luke 1:5-25)
- The Bible teaches us that God is ultimately behind everything that happens.
Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.
Proverbs 19:21
- The Savior of the World came into being as an unexpected pregnancy.
We can so often think of the events of this world as if they are all up to the whims of human beings. Even Christians and other religious people can easily forget that there is another will at work in this world. It is God’s will, and his will is ultimately what will happen.
Now of course, there are always the questions of “Why do bad things happen to good people?” and I’ll address that in more detail at another time, but one question we can address is this: if God is always in control, and if God’s plans are the ones that always succeed, then from God’s perspective, there are no unplanned pregnancies, so what about…. (fill in the blank with your own “unplanned” pregnancy idea).
God has a plan for every baby.
I know there are many times when a woman gets pregnant without actually planning to be pregnant, but that doesn’t make the baby unplanned. I believe that God has a plan for every single baby. Here are my reasons:
I have 2 parents. I have 4 grandparents. I have 8 great-grandparents. I have 16 great-great-grandparents. They have 32 parents. They have 64 parents. They have 128 parents. They have 256! If I consider only the past 20 generations of my family tree, I have over two million total parents! Here’s my point. Out of two million parents, I am certain that at least one of those pregnancies was “unexpected” by the parents involved. And yet, the Bible tells me that God has a purpose for my life. Therefore, if God has a purpose for my life, then God had a plan to bring that particular baby into the world at that particular time so that someday, he could work out his purpose for me!
If I believe that I have a purpose and that God has a plan for my life, then I must believe that every single pregnancy in my family tree was planned by God.
Additionally, I’m a white man descended from European blood, and back in the middle ages, there was a great deal of warfare and barbarism going on in Europe. In fact, I can almost guarantee that one of my moms in my family tree got pregnant with a child as the result of an abusive situation or perhaps even a rape.
What does all this mean? Biblically, every child has a purpose and no child is unplanned—consider that the Savior of the world chose to be born as an unexpected pregnancy! Practically, I have a purpose for my being here, but I don’t have the right to claim that any other child doesn’t.
But what about…
Let me cut to the chase. Let’s deal with some terrible examples.
You tell me about any pregnancy. I know there are some “trouble” issues when it comes to issues of abortion, so let’s consider the worst possible situations a mom could be placed in.
- A woman is raped and becomes pregnant.
- A woman becomes pregnant and the baby is threatening the mother’s life.
- A woman is pregnant and the doctors have determined that the baby has severe deformities that will diminish that child’s “quality of life” severely.
I claim that in each case, God can still have a purpose and a plan for that baby.
- Perhaps the baby is in the womb of the raped woman because God wants to give her something beautiful out of the tragedy.
- Perhaps God wants to teach someone about the beauty of forgiveness.
- Perhaps God wants to teach someone about unconditional love.
- Perhaps God allows for an ectopic pregnancy today to prevent ovarian cancer in the future.
Now, I believe that there are some biblical grounds for terminating a pregnancy in the rare case of a mom’s life being severely threatened as in an ectopic pregnancy, but in every other case, I think it’s time for us to realize that there are no unplanned pregnancies, and we should let God’s plan work itself out until it becomes clear what it was or we can ask him ourselves face to face.
Never forget Jesus
More than anything, our God is a God who turns terrible evil into glorious good. After all, he is the one that brought forgiveness to the world through the tragic and evil crucifixion of Jesus.
The next time you encounter a situation that seems evil to you, ask God to give you patience and wisdom to someday see the good he will bring out of it.
The next time you encounter a woman who is debating abortion, encourage her to trust in a God who has a plan for her and for her unborn baby.
Nothing surprises him.
Pastor Jeff, can you describe more about the link between ovarian pregnancy and ectopic pregnancy? I am not sure I have heard of one before.
While there might in fact be “no unplanned pregnancies” does this truly preclude medical intervention? For example, one could have an “unplanned disease” such as cancer or diabetes. Even assuming that the inflicted had something to do with causing his/her condition (smoking, becoming obese), does this preclude him/her from medically intervening?
Respectfully, Susan
Great questions, Susan. This certainly is a sensitive issue. I’ll just give a quick response now, and if you have any follow up, you can just post another comment about it.
I’m not sure about the medical differences between ovarian and ectopic pregnancy and the details of all that, but I do know that pregnancies outside of the uterus are generally life-threatening to the mother and rarely lead to a viable fetus. In such a case, I’ll defer to the teaching of my ethics prof in college. He said that when a baby is directly threatening the life of the mother, it is justifiable to take the life of the baby even though the baby doesn’t intend to cause harm. If a crazy person is running toward you with a gun, it is justifiable to protect yourself even with lethal force regardless of the intent of the perpetrator.
Therefore, I believe that “medical intervention” should be termed homicide in self-defense when it results in the taking of a human life. In all other cases, it is unjustifiable to take the life of an unborn child.
I need help and advise. One of my sister is facing this issue.
Pls help us and understand GOD’s purpose.
Regards,
Pijush Karmakar
I am currently pregnant by a married man.
This man and I have emgaged in sexual activities for 5 years with no contraceptives.
Before I found out I was with child he staryed distancing himself from.me then Boom I become pregnant and he abandons the responsibility because I refused to have an abortion..Tjis experience is very hurtful…I.asked if we are not suppose to be together…what was Gods plan in this pregnancy
What was God’s plan? I hate to be harsh, but my suspicion is that he wanted you to break up. Your affair with this man was probably damaging his marriage, his soul and your soul as well.
On the other hand, you left this comment 6 years ago, and if you get a notification about my reply, I’d love to hear how your little one is doing now. After 6 years, I bet he or she is the love of your life!
Thank you for your encouraging message. Actually I’m not sure if I’m pregnant but my period is 9 days late and I have some early pregnancy symptoms. I was not ready for this pregnancy because my baby is 1.5 years old and still breastfeeding. I’m feeling depressed and I’m afraid of taking pregnancy test to confirm before being ready to accept whatever result.
my question is : can pregnancy result from mother’s poor planning or not using contraceptives or it’s always God’s plan?
I’m using natural method of contraception and I have been counting well despite my irregular cycle but this cycle has been dramatically challenging which might have lead to unplanned pregnancy.
Hi Reny,
Thank you for your comment here and for your question. I can definitely say that there are babies that no human being planned for. That seems to be your situation.
However, the Bible seems to indicate that God has the course of a human life mapped out from long before creation began. In that regard, if you are pregnant, that pregnancy is ultimately because God has some special purpose for that little child. Yes, your own poor planning might have contributed, but there’s a bigger picture to this.
Most of all, I want you to not let this situation worry you. God’s really in charge. He’s really good, and you can trust him.
The bottom line is this. If you are pregnant again, praise God for the new life he’s brought into your womb, and then seek people around you who also recognize the beauty of that new life and will help you raise and nurture it.
I am in this exact situation right now, my partner and I were on a journey to God. And he believes that God put us together and that God was going to provide for us a house to bring all our children together for we don’t have our children (his 4 & my 3) with us (a blended family). Anyways a few weeks ago I found out I was pregnant with his child and he forced me to get an abortion because he says this wasn’t the plan to have a baby, I didn’t go ahead with it because it seemed wrong, so he broke up with me and said he’s sticking to the original plan God gave him and he doesn’t want anything to do with this child because he thinks he’s too old and has enough children as it is. As for me I’m feeling sad about the whole thing but I believe this child is a blessing and is God’s plan. He also thinks that if I got an abortion the baby will go to heaven and I will be forgiven, he doesn’t believe there are consequences.
Shelley, I’m sorry you are going through this. I want you to know that you are making a good decision to raise this child. Don’t make your child pay for your indiscretions.
If I could offer you some advice, it would be this. Moving forward, don’t believe any guy who tells you that he is following God and then asks you to sleep with him. Draw a hard line in your life that says this: Unless the guy values God and his word more than anything else on this earth, that guy cannot be trusted with your heart. You are a precious daughter of the king of the universe and he has never wanted you to be toyed with and tossed aside as if you are some plaything that can become boring. You are a treasure.
Raise your children to know how valuable they are to God. They should give their hearts first and foremost to the God who loves them, and then, after that, they will be able to *share* their heart with another earthly person who has likewise given their heart to God.