INTRODUCTION: Over the next few weeks, Time With God will be exploring who we are in Christ. Our prayer is that you will grow in confidence and hope as we unpack biblical truth about who God has made us to be. Please note that there will be no Digging Deeper section.
GETTING STARTED
You are a unique work of art, fashioned and shaped by the Grand Artisan himself. Just as a song has rhythm and melody, meter and rhyme, beauty and meaning, so your life embodies personality and gifts, skills and soul, bents and characteristics. All those unique attributes have been carefully hand-selected for you, so that your life will reflect the grandeur and beauty of your Maker.
- What lies keep you from believing that God made you and loves you with all that he is?
READ THE WORD: PSALM 139:14 (ESV)
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made,
Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
English Standard Version, copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
RESPOND TO GOD
Have you ever stood on the banks of the Pacific Ocean and witnessed the power as its waves launch high into the sky, and then settle down to a gentle roll that trickles between your toes? Or have you watched the sun set on the Grand Canyon and taken in its magnificence as the colors explode in oranges, pinks, and purples? Have you ever felt the mist on your face as the Niagara plunges some 165 feet over the gigantic gorge to its turbulent pool? We stare in amazement at these incredible creations and say, “There must be a God!”
God has a much different view. He looks at these beautiful wonders of the world as a simple snap of his fingers, or as a word spoken in an instant. Easy. Think it, speak it, and it’s done! But there is one bit of creation that is his greatest achievement of all. For this masterpiece, he took his time. He even conferred among the Trinity to devise the perfect design. “Let us create the crowning achievement!”
He spoke into existence soul and personality, skills and gifts, uniqueness and bents. He held them in his hand and then fashioned around it skeleton and muscle, sinew and flesh. He gave it mobility and strength, and a mind to think, learn, and grow. He gave it hands so that it, too, might create works of beauty. He gave it a soul that might be forever connected with his. No wonder the psalmist states, “My soul knows it very well.” He shaped a heart that could feel pain deeply and celebrate joy loudly. After all this, he breathed into its lungs and gave it life, then called it his best work ever!
I’m talking about YOU!
You are fearfully and wonderfully made! In Ephesians 2:10 we are called, “his workmanship.” The Greek word used there is poiema, and it conveys the idea of a work of art fashioned by a true artisan. Our English word, poem, comes from that same Greek word. God thinks of us as his greatest work of art. And with the psalmist we can exclaim, “Wonderful are your works,” O God, “I praise you!”