PRAISE GOD FOR ME?

One of my favorite passages to teach from is Psalms 139:13-16. I don’t think any other portion of Scripture shows more artfully God’s process of creating a person. Each person is a unique individual, personally crafted and put together by God. We are not simply randomly chosen strands of DNA that mysteriously or accidentally came together. No, we are much more than that! We are one-of-a-kind, unique creations fashioned by the Master Craftsman, our Lord God.

“For You formed my inward parts; You covered (wove) me in my mother’s womb” (Psalm 139:13 NKJV).

Verse 13 of this psalm speaks of the creative act and also uses a very revealing verb (covered) meaning “woven or knit” indicating that we were woven to be a one-of-a-kind work of beauty, a type of tapestry.“You knit [wove] me together in my mother’s womb” (Psalm 139:13b NIV).

The idea of a master weaver creating an original is repeated in verse 15: “I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought [woven together].” The original language used here indicates this was a mixing of colors and types of thread just as a master craftsman uses when creating a unique piece of art. The artisan was creating something original, not simply repeating the same components over and over. Knowing what and how the tapestry was to be used, the craftsman would carefully select just the right kind of thread to fit the circumstances of use, the right strength, and the right length, etc. So it is when God supervises the creative act of conception, knowing everything about the life of the person about to be created; He selects just the right “everything” the creation will need to face the challenges of his/her life.

When I first read and studied verse 16, it was a staggering revelation for me. “All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be” (NIV). We live our lives wrapped up in a cocoon of time; we remember yesterday, we are living now, and tomorrow is an unknown. We see in part and we know in part. God is not bound with the time constraints that we are; He lives in eternity and He sees yesterday, today and tomorrow as one. Verse 16 says that our entire life has been written in His book before our physical life actually began. God had a book on us before we were born and that book became the instructions from which we were formed!

Seeing this wonderful truth in verse 16 caused me to begin to fully realize that before God created me, He knew exactly what my life would be right now—in 2011. He put within me everything I need not just to survive these troublesome days, but to have the capacity to overcome and to thrive.

All our faith, gifts, talents, and character traits are not just automatically actualized with no help from us, even though we understand this tremendous truth. They are within us in embryonic form and we need to step out and grow, to mature and become all that God has destined us to be. I am still learning and trying to grow in many areas of my life and especially in my spiritual life. Trust, faith, love and many other fruits of the Spirit have plenty of room for growth in me…but I’m working at them and I won’t quit, because I know He made me to be alive at this time.

I purposely skipped over one verse in Psalm 139 because I have a confession to make and an understanding to share. Verse 14 says: “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well” (NIV).

I confess that I avoided verse 14 when I taught on this passage because it seemed to me to be egotistical to say, “Praise God for me because I’m just amazing.” I misunderstood the focus of the verse. “Praise God for me” is not what the verse is saying at all. Actually it is saying, “I praise God because of His incredible creative power that goes into every act of creation—and I am one of those.” I praise God not because I am something special but because I am an example of God’s creative power and ability—and so are you. That’s not something to be proud or arrogant about but to be humble about, with the understanding that the God of the universe took time to create us. That’s something about which I can say, “Praise God for His amazing work in me!”

When we praise God for His creation, and that includes each of us, we are enthroning Him as the King of our life. As we enthrone Him, He then establishes dominion over the creation, which was fashioned with today in His mind.

No matter what the circumstances of your life at this time, God created you to be an overcomer. He knit you together to survive and to thrive!