“For You formed my inward parts;
You knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are Your works;
My soul knows it very well.” – Psalm 139:13-14 (ESV)
When was the last time you praised God for how He made you?
It’s easy to complain about ourselves, our view of areas that we think we lack or how we wish we were different. Those negative thoughts and ill-feelings towards ourselves are rooted in the lies of the enemy – enticing us to compare ourselves with others, and in turn we create a self-perception of being “less than” what we think we should be. In how we look, how we act, what we do, what we have, or who we’re connected with.
We were all fearfully and wonderfully made, fashioned into the likeness of God before we even took our first breath! Carefully thought-out and designed for great purpose. But do we truly believe that? We either recognize that our Creator formed us beautifully and intentionally, or alternatively we hold a twisted perception that He made a mistake. Perhaps how we view ourselves provides an indication of how we view God.
God’s design was to make humanity in His image. Our great enemy has (and continues to) manipulate all of creation, and the works of the image of God. But because of God’s great love for us, Jesus made a way to reclaim, restore, and redeem what the enemy meant for evil, and to use it for good. He is the God Who makes all things new! And right now, by His Word and His Spirit He is continuing to make us into His image, pruning us of the ideologies of the world, cutting off the sin that so easily entangles us and traps us from seeing Truth.
What if we stopped trying to make ourselves in our own image, based off what the world tells us, and instead we allowed Him full access - through our surrender - to make us into His image? What if today, we used the breath we’ve been given to praise Him for His intricate design of how He created us, why He created us, and acknowledge how we see the works of His hand in our lives?
Perhaps when our breath is given over to praise, our souls will truly understand and know full-well that we are indeed, fearfully and wonderfully made.
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