Category: IMAGO DEI

Re:Verse passage – Psalm 139:13-16 (day five)

“You knit me together in my mother’s womb.”

When we are being formed in our mother’s wombs, many amazing, incredible little miracles occur. One of those little miracles is the formation of our eyes. Around 22 days after conception, our eyes begin developing and forming. Nerves are sent from a baby’s developing brain to the developing eyes while nerves go from the eye to the brain.1 Somewhere in the middle, the nerves meet and form together to make the optic nerve and other nerves. It is an incredible process!

When I read these verses from Psalm 139, I am reminded of these nerves meeting between the eye and the brain, forming together to create sight. Science may explain it as your body knows what to do or explain it in some other way. The words “You knit (or wove) me together in my mother’s womb” take on a whole new significance to me. God does it. We are put together by our amazing God very deliberately and intimately! Every aspect of our created being was made on purpose by God, for His purpose. Now, there are times I bemoan certain things about myself or wonder why God created me in some of the ways that He did. We may not understand those purposes now. But I believe someday we will understand more about why He made us in the ways that He did. Until then, trust that He made us so intimately and deliberately for His glory. You are remarkably and wonderfully made on purpose for His purpose!

Re:Verse passage – Psalm 139:13-16 (day four)

Psalm 139 reveals several things to us. The four verses we’re focusing on this week reveal that God knows us intimately and cares for us even before we’re born. It reveals that not only is he near to us from the moment of conception, but that he is actually engaged in the work of forming us, gently creating us in our mother’s womb. This is miraculous in and of itself.

But when we read these verses in the context of the entire psalm, we see that God’s intimate knowledge of us is made even more amazing by his omniscience and omnipresence. In verse 7, David asks, “Where can I go from your Spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence?” He goes on to proclaim that there is not one inch of heaven or earth that lies outside of God’s presence. There is not a soul whom God does not know intimately. The God of the universe is so kind that he makes himself present to us before we even have a conscious thought. He chooses to know us before we can utter a word of praise.

Because God makes himself present to us even in the womb, because he forms us with love and creates us in his image, he imbues our lives with dignity. Our lives have dignity from the moment of conception because God chooses to impart divine dignity to us. How, then, should this impact the way we treat others? How might we acknowledge the divine dignity in those around us, even those we would consider our enemy? He is as present to us now as he was from the start.

Re:Verse passage – Psalm 139:13-16 (day three)

“For you formed my inward parts…”

Your body is quite hardy. It endures injury, stress, mistreatment, sleeplessness, infection. It’s designed to tolerate adverse conditions with resilience. Yes, eventually, these afflictions might lead to death, so your body is not invulnerable. Wouldn’t imperviousness to harm have made more sense, though? Well, consider a possible consequence arising from your body’s inability to experience pain, never knowing wounds or exhaustion or sickness. Would you then give care and tenderness to your body or the bodies of others? Would you learn to regard your “human being-ness” or anyone else’s as sacred? One day, the bodies of all who count on Christ will be raised. In that day, they will be, finally, immortal. Each person raised will have learned to care for and love all bodies profoundly. That’s when a person will be ready for immortality.

Re:Verse passage – Psalm 139:13-16 (day two)  Wonderful are Your works…vs. 14b

 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.  Romans 1:20

O Lord, our Lord,
How majestic is Your name in all the earth,
Who have displayed Your splendor above the heavens! Psalm 8:1

The creative nature of God did not start when he made us in his image. The awesome work of all creation shows how he poured creativity into every nuance of the cosmos. A mountain lake may be unseen by man for a millennia only to be discovered by someone who is overwhelmed by the beauty of creation. God alone knows how creation all works together to testify to his goodness, glory, and majesty. We are the blessed beneficiaries of that creation. It gives you an opportunity to give thanks when you see his magnificence in creation. You may also take a moment to pray for the individual who will come after you to be convicted by work of creation. May they recognize the hand of God in the beauty they see. Nothing is without purpose that God has created. Thanks be to God.

Re:Verse passage – John 9: 1-3 (day seven)

True Story: My mother was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 37. A preacher showed up on her doorstep and told her that she needed to repent of her sin if she wanted to be healed. He made her feel like it was her sin that caused the cancer.

To be fair, sin did create it. Cancer is a product of the broken world we live in due to the fall. Cancer exists because sin exists. Yet, it is not the individual diagnosed with cancer who invited the sickness into their life due to poor choices. If that were the case, shouldn’t we all have cancer? Jesus plainly tells us here, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”

My mother was healed. It was not due to her repentance (which I am sure she did and does often), but it was to display the works of God. Two years later, I was born. I exist because God exists. As do every one of us. We exist so that the works of God might be displayed.

“As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man…” John 9:1

Jesus saw the man. The disciples would likely not have noticed him if it were not for Jesus. There is little doubt the encounter caused awkward tension for the disciples. They were used to avoiding eye contact and moving along. Rather than say something to the blind beggar, they said something about him; even better, they asked Jesus a theological question. More avoidance.

Jesus wouldn’t have it. He answered their question, then moved in and touched the man.

Jesus challenged me this week to consider the number of people I pass by along the way. Sometimes, even my momentary kindnesses are yet another form of avoidance: smile, greet, move along. 

What if I really saw people? Rather than moving along, what if I entered someone’s universe? The truth is, I might just see the power of God on full display.

Re:Verse passage – John 9: 1-3 (day five)

“This happened so the power of God could be seen in him.” v. 3b

How often do we tend to focus on the small picture right in front of us? Weekly? How often do we get stuck looking at the circumstances or areas that God has called us to, wishing that we were somewhere else or doing something else? Daily? How often do we get stuck wondering why God made us {insert your own answer here}? Hourly?

As humans, we have a predisposition to lose focus on the bigger picture (God’s picture) because of our limited perspective. We forget the Creator and that He created us for His purpose with a bigger story in mind. We may not understand the purposes that He has, but we can trust that God, the Creator, knows exactly what He is doing and for what purpose He created us. When we turn our focus to the bigger picture and to the narrative that God is writing for our lives, it helps us let go of the worries or misplaced focus we have. A correct focus helps us get to a place where we can truly say, “I don’t understand it, but I trust Him.”

Maybe you are struggling with {insert your own answer here} so the power of God could be seen in you. You were created in His image on purpose for His purpose!

Re:Verse passage – John 9: 1-3 (day four)

Knowing how to engage with someone who is different from you is challenging – this was true in ancient Israel and it remains true today. When we see someone who is different from us, especially in a way that is physical or obvious to our eyes, we might find ourselves feeling uncomfortable or not knowing how to respond. In our own way, we may even search for reasons to “explain away” that person’s difference, just like the disciples.

But this man’s difference couldn’t be explained through the disciples’ way of thinking or cultural assumptions. It could only be rightly understood in the light of Jesus, the light by which see things clearly, as God made them to be. God created this man to live a life that spoke of God’s glory and miraculous nature. Later in the story, we read God used this man’s physical blindness to shed light on the spiritual blindness of the Pharisees.

Those who are different from us uniquely and equally reflect God’s glory. When we engage with difference through worldly eyes, we become fearful, distrustful, and search for blame. When we engage with difference through the eyes of Christ, a new part of the Kingdom is unveiled to us.

Re:Verse passage – John 9: 1-3 (day three)

“Rabbi, who sinned…?”

Whose fault is it? Who’s to blame? Who did it wrong? These questions say more about the one asking than the one asked about. A marginalized person – one who does not fit with the norms of the group, one whose voice is ignored, who possesses no power, no sway, and is relegated to “the least of these” – such a person poses a question that is hard to ignore. The question is this: “How will you love this person?” If you can identify some kind of moral or character-based deficiency in that person, it’s easier to turn down the volume of that question. And then, you have a justification for avoiding it altogether.