Fearfully and Wonderfully Made
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.
Psalm 139:13-18 NIV
Psalm 8, another Davidic Psalm, tells us that God created humans to have a unique place in the created order. Unlike animals or angels, we are made in the image of God. We are made for a special relationship with God, a relationship no other living being enjoys, and we are made to experience that relationship eternally. Beyond the common purpose of glorifying God; humans are made individually, with individual stories and ways of giving glory to God.
Consider how unique every individual is! Even in conception, God’s hand directs the forming and development of our individual parts. All of us have things about ourselves that we would like to change. Nearly every person wants to change some physical feature. For example, some would like to be taller, while others wish they were shorter. Some would like smaller ears or a smaller nose. Some wish their eyes were a different color. Others wish they could change their natural abilities; they would like to be better at any number of things. The corruption brought about by the fall that began to rot our world means that we sometimes feel uncomfortable in our own bodies. Our outward flesh is wasting away and groans to be renewed. When you add our post-fall tendency to covet and be envious of what others have, it is easy to be discontent. Or, even if we are not discontent on our own account, we may wonder why some are born with severe genetic disorders or suffer life-threatening illnesses at a tender age, such as cancer.
And yet, as we consider things beyond our control, we need to remember that God carefully crafts us and makes us according to His plan for us. He makes each of us special in some way. This means that the very physical feature you despise actually endears you as an individual to God’s heart. The very ability you desire but cannot develop has not been given to you by God because it is not a part of His plan for your life.
As David says, we are fearfully and wonderfully made-each one of us. We should praise God unceasingly for the fact that He loves us so much, that He has designed us so intricately, intimately, and individually. When we truly grasp how much God loves us, we will love ourselves more. We will learn to delight in the things about ourselves that we formerly despised. In addition, when we truly believe that God has a wonderful plan for our lives, pursuing that plan will be our first priority. We will then seek God’s will diligently, submitting ourselves fully to Him so that He might bring it to pass.