Scripture
For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be. (Psalm 139:13-16)
Observation
David has just spoken of the fact that he cannot go anywhere that God cannot see, that God cannot find.
Even our creation, our beginning, is known to God. We are God’s works (vs. 14)
The NET says “your deeds are awesome and amazing” rather than “I am fearfully and wonderfully made” putting the emphasis back on God’s works.
If God can every where and every thing, then human beings made by God must be good – fearful and wonderful.
Application
To think that I am made by God – made wonderfully, fearfully as David says. Or as the NET suggests ‘awesome and amazing.” God has made me, has made everyone who lives. By itself it is an amazing thought – we are not accidents of nature, not the random coming together of two cells or going to the distant human past some chemicals in a puddle that came to life. We are made, we are formed, we are known. The first creation of human beings is recreated in every human who lives.
These are more than just self-esteem boosting, meme appropriate positive thoughts. We are made purposefully – with days “ordained” from their beginning. The idea of our lives being written in a book is more about their having a purpose, a narrative, an end rather than a fatalistic idea of their being decided in advance.
Prayer
Creator who made Adam and Eve – and who made me: let me live into the wonder and joy of my creation by you. May I remember that every person I see and with whom I interact today is also made in your wonder and with your purpose. And may I live out the narrative, the purpose you have for me. As I choose each word of today’s story may I choose that tale, may I follow that plot, that you have designed for me. Amen.