After I published a new blog post on my other blog earlier today titled, “The Right Attitude,” I felt there was still a stirring inside of me to keep on writing another blog post, so here it is. It’s rare that I write two posts on the same day, but the weather outside is dreary and wet, so it’s a great day to write blog posts.
If you read the first post I published titled (as I mentioned above), “The Right Attitude,” I was feeling the need for an attitude adjustment as the dreary weather outside for the past several days was starting to give me the blahs (big time!). It worked, too, as I’m feeling much better!
Yesterday, I read a devotion in “Our Daily Bread” that reminded me of the fact that God knows everything about us even before we were born and he knows all the details of our lives as we live them out day by day (and that includes the good, the bad, and the ugly). The devotion is titled, “Fully Known,” by Dr. James Bank, author and founding pastor at Peace Church in Durham, NC. Here is that devotion:
“Before I formed you… I knew you.” —Jeremiah 1:5
“You shouldn’t be here right now. Someone up there was looking out for you,” the tow truck driver told my mother after he had pulled her car from the edge of a steep mountain ravine and studied the tire tracks leading up to the wreck. Mom was pregnant with me at the time. As I grew, she often recounted the story of how God saved both our lives that day, and she assured me that God valued me even before I was born.
None of us escape our omniscient (all-knowing) Creator’s notice. More than 2,500 years ago He told the prophet Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you” (Jeremiah 1:5). God knows us more intimately than any person ever could and is able to give our lives purpose and meaning unlike any other. He not only formed us through His wisdom and power, but He also sustains every moment of our existence—including the personal details that occur every moment without our awareness: from the beating of our hearts to the intricate functioning of our brains. Reflecting on how our heavenly Father holds together every aspect of our existence, David exclaimed, “How precious to me are your thoughts, God!” (Psalm 139:17).
God is closer to us than our last breath. He made us, knows us, and loves us, and He’s ever worthy of our worship and praise. (Quote source here.)
The most inspiring passage in the Bible regarding just how well God knows us inside and out was written by King David, and it is found in Psalm 139. Here is what David wrote (actually, composed as a psalm):
You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue
you, Lord, know it completely.
You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
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.
How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.
If only you, God, would slay the wicked!
Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!
They speak of you with evil intent;
your adversaries misuse your name.
Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord,
and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?
I have nothing but hatred for them;
I count them my enemies.
Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
In an article published on June 4, 2018, titled, “What Does It Mean to Be Fearfully and Wonderfully Made?” by Jennifer Heeren, contributing writer on Crosswalk.com, she writes:
Meaning of “Fearfully and Wonderfully Made”
“So, God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God, he created them; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27)
“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” (Psalm 139:14)
Psalm 139 says that God made all the delicate, inner parts of my body. He knit me together within my mother’s womb. I was made wonderfully complex. God knew me as He was painstakingly designing me with much loving care.
I didn’t just evolve into what I am. I was created and designed with a purpose. And the blueprints of me are similar to other human beings but they’re not exactly the same. I am unique—and so are you.
The human body is a unique design of multiple systems that all work intricately together. The cardiovascular system gives you the energy to move. The muscular system gives you the ability to move, lift, and hold things. The digestive system processes food into energy and discards waste. The immune system keeps you healthy. The hormonal system determines your gender. The eyes cause you to see. The nose lets you smell. The tongue and mouth let you eat and taste. The ears enable you to hear. And your skin enables you to feel textures. You have the ability to encounter an incredibly diverse world with an equally amazing diverse body!
Then you were also blessed with a brain so you can think, process, and create. Isaac Asimov said the brain is “the most complex and orderly arrangement of matter in the universe.” Your emotions help you to relate to other people and feel compassion. All of these systems (plus many more) were uniquely designed to make you who you are.
God created you on purpose with love.
You have the innate ability to discern right from wrong. Although, that ability is hindered somewhat until you connect with your Creator. He didn’t just design you to do your own thing. He created you so you would desire an ongoing relationship with Him.
You were made with a hole in the center of your soul that only one thing fits. Until you find that very specific something, you will never be fulfilled. And that very specific something is God Himself. You were designed with an intense need of your Creator, God. Without a relationship with Him, you will always be searching for something to fill that void.
Drugs, alcohol, food, money, sex, material goods, occupations, hobbies, travel, success, fame—these are some of the ways in which we try to fill that empty space inside. But none of those things will ever fill it. They are like round pegs in square holes. The vacant areas at the edges will still leave you desiring more of something else. Whatever you attempt to put in there will dissipate because it never completely fills the space. Those things were never meant to fill the space; they never can.
Sadly, many continue to shove mismatched pegs into that hole. A little of this, a little of that… hoping that one day they will feel complete. They surmise that this thing over here didn’t work but maybe this other thing will do it. They just haven’t found the right thing yet but one day they hope they will.
One day…
-
- I’ll have enough money to feel safe and secure.
- I’ll find the perfect spouse that will complete me.
- I’ll get my dream sports car and life will be grand.
- I’ll be on television and people will know my name.
- I’ll be the best in my field and people will scout me out.
“One day” will never come. If you’re not happy with who you are today, right here and right now, you’ll never be. You’ll never be happy with who you are today unless you begin to praise God for creating you just as you are.
People want to look at everyone and everything else before they turn to God.
“Yet no one calls on your name or pleads with you for mercy. Therefore, you have turned away from us and turned us over to our sins. And yet, O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are the potter. We all are formed by your hand.” (Isaiah 64:7-8)
Fortunately, God made a way for us to repent and turn to Him by sending His very own Son to make the way.
When you do finally realize that without God you are unable to make the most of yourself, that’s when things begin to change. The clay cannot mold itself no matter how hard it tries. However, God, the Potter, cannot only mold His clay but He also knows what His original design of you was. He is both a Potter and an Architect with a Master Plan.
Sometimes in this fallen world, people are born with birth defects that disrupt one or more of the intricate systems of the body. God foresaw even those defects and uses them for good when we look to Him. Even our weaknesses are fearfully and wonderfully made.
A blind person can develop hearing beyond the normal capacity. Conjoined twins can teach us about getting along with one another, for they have to do it 24/7. Someone born without arms develops the ability to use their feet in wondrous ways. Another born without legs develops the upper body strength to get around smoothly.
We all have weaknesses that sometimes make us feel like we are of no use. But God’s grace is sufficient to cover our weaknesses. More than that, God’s power is made perfect in our weaknesses. Weaknesses keep me humble and leaning on God’s strength which is much more sufficient than my own.
Should I always feel like I am “Fearfully and Wonderfully” made?
No. Sin and pride always want to drag me back into my own way of thinking. The same thinking that kept me reaching for those mismatched pegs. Those thoughts tell me that I can do whatever I want, by myself, without God. They lie and they don’t even make sense. They say I can do anything but then turn around and also say that I’m not good enough to do what I want to do. Feelings can’t be trusted unless they line up with the Word of God. And the Word of God tells me that I’m fearfully and wonderfully made for a specific purpose. Therefore, with God’s help, I will walk in that purpose as often as I can.
Whether I always feel it or not, I can trust God and His plans for my very life.
“For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” (Ephesians 2:10) (Quote source here.)
I’ll end this post with the words from the chorus of a song titled, “Known,” by Tauren Wells (see YouTube Video below): I’m fully known and loved by You. You won’t let go no matter what I do. And it’s not one or the other; it’s hard truth and ridiculous grace, to be known fully known and loved by You…
I’m fully known . . .
And loved . . .
By You . . . .
YouTube Video: “Known” by Tauren Wells:
Sara's Musings 
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