“I will praise You for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works and that my soul knows right well.”
Psalm 139:14
All we have to do to know that God loves us and is a God worthy of our praise is look in a mirror.
When you look in a mirror, what do you see, Pilgrim? Someone made in God’s image (Gen. 1:27) or someone who’s “down on his luck,” an outcast or one who never fits in? Someone who’s overwhelmed by God’s amazing Grace or one whose heart is filled with bitterness, fear, doubt or anger?
In reality, our answer depends upon our response to today’s Manna.
Praise and thanksgiving do not readily roll off the tongue of one who’s angry at God and/or others; in fact, those two (anger at God and/or others) really go hand-in-hand—for our attitude toward God ultimately governs our attitude and actions toward others (Ps. 51:4; Mt. 25:40).
That’s why Ps. 139 should be a daily Pilgrim’s Primer for us—for it reminds us that God knows us (vv.1-16), loves us (vv.17-18) and longs for us to be totally yielded to Him (vv.23-24). And, an integral part of this, again, is praise that’s based upon Who God is and what He has done (cf. Heb. 11:6).
David knew nothing of DNA, genetics, bodily systems and organs, skeletal structure, etc.; yet, He knew we are “fearfully (Heb. ‘yare’—‘to be in awe of, revere, to cause to worship, etc.’) and wonderfully (Heb. ‘palah’—‘to distinguish between, make a difference in, set apart, etc.’) made.”
Or, to put it another way, “We’re one-of-a-kind!!” Glory!!
Yes, dear Pilgrim, we all know we’re unique. Our fingerprints attest to this, as does our DNA. Retinal scans and voice recognition also declare “There’s no one else in the whole, wide world who’s just like you. God made you ‘special’!”
How does that make you feel?
It should make you stop, bow your head and cry “Marvelous are Your works, O Lord, and that my soul knows beyond the shadow of a doubt!” Why not stop right now and do that?
Years ago someone said in response to the Gospel, “God don’t make no junk!” And, that’s so very true; yet, too often, we find it difficult to believe that because of sin’s impact upon us. A baby’s born deformed or dead. We serve the Lord to the best of our ability, yet things suddenly fall apart. Or, we’re overly concerned about what others think, say or do and spend all of our time in appeasement or resentment.
But, dear, special object of God’s great Love, Jesus loves you just the way you are. He doesn’t require you to get your act together before He’ll accept you. He’s “not ashamed to call you brother or sister” (Heb. 2:11). He simply asks for you to let Him come in and become the Host of your heart (Rev. 3:20). What’s keeping you from doing that? Open the door now.
January 10, 2012
