Fearfully and Wonderfully Made for His Purpose and Glory

Fearfully and Wonderfully Made for His Purpose and Glory

(Dillow;2007) She finds out from her daughter that she is pregnant. She inserts her prayer for her yet-to-be-born granddaughter.

When I was younger I never thought about praying for the yet-to-be-born. I never thought about praying for the not-yet-encountered. I am now approaching a month before I turn 30. I am finding myself praying for the wife I have not-yet-met more and more. Dillow's prayer is both personal and Scriptural. She prays through Psalm 139. It is an incredibly intimate and marvelous Psalm to pray over for loved ones.

O God, I praise You that You are intimately acquainted with all her ways. I thank You that You have gone before her and followed her and that You placed Your hand of blessing on her head. This knowledge overwhelms me with gratitude. I thank You. Right now. You, the Master Weaver, are forming her personality and emotional makeup, weaving them together in my daughter's womb. Wonderful are Your works!You know all about my granddaughter. You are knitting together her body, soul, and spirit. As a crafter creates intricate embroidery stitches. You are superintending every detail of her beautiful design. You have prerecorded all the days set before her on this earth. Already You are preparing her portion and her cup .O God. You are great! I praise You! You have created who she is to be but also what she is to do. You have created her to fulfill a unique plan ordained especially for her. Truly my grandchild is fearfully and wonderfully made. I praise You for Your awesome work. (Dillow;2007 p. 41-42).

Dillow spends some time in unraveling the details of how God made each one of us. As I ponder these thoughts, I am brought back to Genesis one where we find the creation story and how God has made each of us in His image and in Genesis 2 where He spends time and detail on the creation of man and woman in contrast to the birds and fish which are spoken into being. Each human being has great value to God regardless of how much money is in their pocket, the color of their skin, the circumstances they have gone through. The Psalm is full of how God knew each of us before our physical birth. I'm not a parent, but I can imagine how expectant parents grow in anticipation and excitement as the day draws closer for the child to be born. God was intimately involved in all the details of our lives, who our parents would be, where we would live, who our siblings would be, and even what we would look like. He cares for us even before we could even think about Him. Indeed Psalm 139 is one of the most up-lifting and intimate Psalms showing God's care and concern over human life. Sometimes it can be like one of those stories of the Gospels we heard about again and again and somehow it lost its power and significance. Psalm 139 can be like that.

Dillow includes this suggestion for us:

"Open your Bible to this glorious psalm and ask God to give you fresh eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart to understand what He says to you."

(Dillow;2007 p. 42)

Dillow begins with some reflections over the Psalm. She begins by saying God created our personality. David says in the Psalm that God has searched him and He knows him, v. 1. God knows how we respond to certain things. He knows how we react in traffic. He knows the foods we like to eat, the places we like to visit. God is intimately acquainted with all our ways, v. 3. I think that can be a frightening thought for some. It would be quite a frightening thing if we could read minds. Yet, God fully knows everything about us and still loves us. Dillow elaborates further on the section. She comments on how created our inmost being. "The psalmist goes on to give examples of how intimately God knew him:" For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb" (verse 13). In Hebrew, "inmost being" signifies the seat of the desires and longings, the personality.

Even before David was born. God shaped his personality. Likewise, when God was forming you. He created not only your body but also your emotional makeup — your personality.David is so overwhelmed by these truths that he breaks into praise:

"I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well" (verse 14).

Have you ever thanked your Creator for His loving supervision of your creation? Have you praised Him for creating your personality? Can you say with David, "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made"?"

(Dillow;2007 p. 43)

Praise should be a natural response to knowing God and seeing what He has done. I often wonder why it is that more people aren't praising God. I often wonder why there isn't more thanksgiving and worship. David almost instantaneously breaks out in praise once he reflects on how God fashioned him and knows him. We too should respond in praise when we realize how God is so involved in our lives from the time before we were born until now. Dillow moves from talking about how God made our personality into how He made our bodies. She comments on v. 15 from the NASB.

"In Hebrew, the word translated wrought means "embroidered." It was the same Hebrew word used to refer to the skillful and artistic needlework in the curtains of the Old Testament tabernacle. When God fashioned you in your mother's womb (described in the psalm as "the depths of the earth"), He embroidered with great skill. Although no one else could see you, God saw every detail of the formation of your body. As a weaver intricately embroiders colors together to create a beautiful pattern, God knit together your veins, muscles, nerves, and every curve and indentation that is uniquely yours. What tapestry can begin to equal the human fabric?"

(Dillow;2007 p. 44)

Dillow follows this up by the observation or thought that we think the bodies of others are beautiful but not ours. We have multibillion dollar industries that capture the beauty of the human body in various forms and some of these industries are not so glorifying to God, but it sometimes causes one to compare and we fall short. I wish I was taller.. I wish I was 6'4 rather than 5'9. I wish I had a wider frame and was more muscular. I wish I was more athletic. I wish I was not born blind. How nice it would be if I were born sighted. I wish I were born British with distinguishable British features. Yet, God is responsible for every detail of our body. No detail of our being is too small. God made me Asian, born in America. He gave me Cantonese-speaking parents and raised me up in that tradition so that I can communicate Cantonese with the waiters at Yummy Guide.

Dillow adds a quote she read a while ago and it is one to keep in mind when it comes to making comparisons with others and contentment towards ourselves. It is by the Reverend James Hufstetler.

"You will never really enjoy other people, you will never have stable emotions, you will never lead a life of godly contentment, you will never conquer jealousy and love others as you should until you thank God for making you the way He did."

This section was about our bodies, in terms of physical attributes, but so much more can be added including medical conditions. I think of so many friends and family members with allergies especially in Sacramento spring season. I think of my own physical limitations. Being content with who we are is very challenging.

Dillow ends this section by talking about God made us for a purpose. This is taken from v. 16. All our days were written in God's book. All our experiences as Dillow describes God planned each one of them. God has a plan for us to follow, a path for us to walk. I think the comparison thing also creeps in here. I think sometimes we prefer walking in another's shoes. Currently, I am in Rochester. It is unpleasantly cold and gloomy here. About a day ago I was home in Sacramento where it was sunny, warm, and pleasant. I almost immediately regret coming back once I got of my flight into the cold, windy gloom. I still don't fully know why I am here beyond the academic and immediate purpose. I far rather be in a place of warmer weather. I suppose many of us can find things we don't like about our path, the job we have, or perhaps where we live. Yet, God has us in our particular places to fulfill a purpose. I love the line that no one else can fulfill the purpose God has for us. Dillow inserts a quote from Jerry Bridges. It is a good final thought to end this section.

"God created our inmost being and fashioned us in our mother's womb so that we might be equipped to fulfill the plan that He set out for us even before we were born. Who you are is not a biological accident. What you are is not a circumstantial accident. God planned both for you."

Psalm 139

For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.

¹ You have searched me, LORD,
and you know me.
² You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
³ You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
⁴ Before a word is on my tongue
you, LORD, know it completely.
⁵ You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.

⁷ Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
¹¹ If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
¹² even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

¹³ For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
¹⁵ 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.
¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
¹⁷ How precious to me are your thoughts,^[a] God!
How vast is the sum of them!
¹⁸ Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.

¹⁹ If only you, God, would slay the wicked!
Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!
²⁰ They speak of you with evil intent;
your adversaries misuse your name.
²¹ Do I not hate those who hate you, LORD,
and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?
²² I have nothing but hatred for them;
I count them my enemies.
²³ Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
²⁴ See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.