God Created You Fearfully and Wonderfully
Day 8
by Gini Crawford, MSW
2/1/2021
Created fearfully and wonderfully
We are told in Psalm 139:14 that God made us fearfully and wonderfully. King David who wrote Psalm one hundred thirty-nine, knew and loved God, our Creator. He understood how fearfully and wonderfully God had created him and all of us.
... I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. Psalm 139:14 ESV®
Fearfully (yare) in the Hebrew means to fear, to respect, to reverence, and also to be awesome. What Psalm 139:14 is saying with the word "fearfully" is that knowing how awesome God made us should bring a fear and reverence to us, - not a poor me type of attitude, which I can have.
Wonderfully (palah) in the Hebrew means distinct, set apart, different, and yes, wonderful. The idea in Psalm 139:14 is that humans are different, distinct from all other creation. We are God's masterpiece. We are so wonderfully constructed by God, even in our highly technical age, science still has a wonderment over how our bodies are and work. As I look in the mirror or make a foolish comment, I certainly don't think of myself as wonderfully made. Yet the truth is, whether or not we think or feel we are God's wonderful creation, we are!
Do you think or feel you are wonderfully and fearfully made? You should because you are God's beloved wonder woman (excuse my modernization).
King David's reaction to our Creator
David wrote Psalm eight, in which he shares how surprised he is that the Creator would make us, mere humans, just a little lower than heavenly beings. David was amazed too at how much God cares for us. He was also awed that God allows us to rule over His creation, and that God crowns us with glory and majesty. David says of God,
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. Psalm 8:3-8 ESV®
In this daily devotional, I will use King David and his writings to give an example of someone who knew God loved him (Psalm 21:7). Here is some background on King David: He reigned as king in Israel around 1000 B.C. He was Israel's most prominent king. He is called a man after God's own heart (1 Samuel 13:14; Acts 13:22). King David wrote many of the Psalms. The Psalms are Hebrew poetry and were often used as songs of worship. David would lift his voice in the Psalms to worship because of God's love for him. You cannot understand the depth of the word hesed love without the Psalms; it is used 128 times in the Psalms.
Are you like King David, who was always amazed by how much we mean to God?
I can relate to King David feeling awed about God. God is incomprehensible: His ways, His thoughts, His power, His love and so on, are vastly beyond ours, so of course, we would struggle with knowing-understanding God fully (Job 37:5).
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:8-9 ESV®
God knew we would need Him to explain Him. So God formed creation to show Who He is, and gave us His Word to clearly tell us about Him. (Romans 1:19-20; 2 Peter 1:20-21; 2 Timothy 3:14-17). God also did the unimaginable, He stepped out of eternity and died for our sins, so we would have the ability to know and understand Him through His Spirit; and then when death takes us into His very presence, we will fully know Him. (John 14:25-26; 1 Corinthians 2:12, 13:12; Philippians 2:6-8).
God and His works fill me with awe, as it did David. Does God and what He does fill you with awe?
Life Application
We are God's perfect creation
To enlighten you about Who God is, what He is doing and how wonderfully He has made you: Read Psalm 139:1-18. Write down any insights.
When the pressures of life are whispering in your mind that you have to be the world's best - have the perfect look, the perfect family, the perfect house, job, ministry and so on, remember God created you fearfully and wonderfully, so you are in reality, already perfect. When someone is whitewater rafting with a guide, they are told to not fight the current if they fall out of the raft, but lean back and let the river take you. The guide knows where you are, and will grab you with his hand. Lean back in God's loving presence as life takes you down the river of life. Don't fight against God. Rest in Him. You are His perfect creation. He knows you, and where you are. His hand is upon you.
Prayerfully thank God for making you as He did.
Reflect on Psalm 139:14.