The Everyday Prayer

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

How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! Psalm 139:17

It should amaze us that we are on God’s radar at all; that we are not some project only to be discarded once completed. God is fully invested in us, all the way down to his thoughts; we are on his mind. If God, being eternally holy, and we being infinitely small in comparison, dignifies our humanity in this way, how much more should we dignify every human life, no matter how small?

Re:Verse passage – Psalm 139:13-16 pt. 2 (day five)

What do we do with the tensions of Psalm 139? Our own insecurities vs God’s fearful and wonderful creation. Our self-esteem vs God’s sovereign design and activity in creating us. Did you sense the collision as you read our Re:Verse text?

The temptation is to look and think inward and outward. About us. About who we are. How we look and feel. How our bodies work or don’t work. It is good to be reminded that God has knit us together. His work. His hands. His plan. Yet, David finds something better (for us) than these reminders- looking and thinking upward. Worship (I praise you-vs. 13) I read a quote this week that expounds on this perspective, we “were made for everlasting worship, not daily doses of self-worth.”  As we fervently and frequently praise God for His wonderful works, He receives glory and we find joy. John Piper’s quote (God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him) holds true. Our thoughts and views (inward and outward) turn into praise and worship (upward). It is then that we find the joy, hope, peace, and contentment we ultimately long for and what we were created for. 

Re:Verse passage – Psalm 139:13-16 pt. 2 (day four)

I’ve been struck this week by the fact that Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit, was knit together in his mother’s womb – just like us. His body was formed “in the depths of the earth,” though he was without sin. While he is fully God, he is also fully human; he experienced creation in his mother’s womb just as we have.

The womb is a sacred place because our bodies are sacred. God chose, in his grace, to give us dignity from the very start by making us in his image. This means that every moment of life is sacred, from the moment of conception to our final breath. Part of our role as people of God is to affirm that dignity in others – in the preborn, in the mother carrying that child in her womb, in those nearing end of life, and everything in between.

This calling is exhibited in Matthew 25:35-40. Jesus proclaims that what we do for others, we do unto him. When we give water to those who are thirsty or feed those who are hungry, we serve Jesus by serving his children and affirming their dignity. I think this idea can be extended to say, “What do you for the preborn, you do unto Christ. What you do for the expectant mother, you do unto Christ.”

One way FBCSA seeks to affirm the dignity of expectant mothers and their infants is through One By One Ministries. Use this link to learn more and consider serving: https://fbcsa.org/onebyone

Re:Verse passage – Psalm 139:13-16 pt. 2 (day three)

“I will give thanks to you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”

Would you want you as a friend? Would you want you as a romantic partner? Are you thankful for you? You want to be, perhaps, or maybe you even want to want to be. It’s possible you believe you should think of yourself in a grateful or appreciative way, but that’s not the question. The question is, do you? You might find it easier to criticize yourself for your actions – even to equate yourself with your actions – than to regard yourself with empathy. The writer doesn’t evade the issue by saying, “God loves me in spite of who I am.” Rather the statement is, “I’m glad for the me you’ve made.” To express this kind of full-throated thankfulness is to be relieved that God is so good.

Re:Verse passage – Psalm 139:13-16 pt. 2 (day two) 

You wove me in my mother’s womb. Vs. 13b

Does anyone tat anymore? My maternal grandmother was amazing at this art. There wasn’t a place in her house that you wouldn’t see examples of her work, either finished or in process. She was forever tatting. I look at these pieces now and wonder how it’s even possible. It looks so fussy and difficult, but elegant and beautiful at the same time. I was thinking of that process when I re-read Psalm 139 this morning. Every fiber of your being was woven with a degree of care that is incomprehensible. Your life matters. If we are going to truly study what it means to made in the image of God, we must start from the beginning. As I look at those examples of lace doilies, I see my grandmother’s work and love. As you look into the eyes of a child, a stranger, and especially yourself, remember the Lord was intimately involved in shaping you. Make sure to take note of his handiwork and love.

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

And in Your book were all written
The days that were ordained for me. vs 16

Your life is a story that has already been written. Some of us are in comedies, some of us are in tragedies, some of us are in dramas, but in reality, we will have a little of it all in our lifetime. You have probably already seen that to be true, but what you may not recognize is that the totality of our story, from beginning to end, is a true love story.

God wrote you into His story, knowing your flaws, knowing your habits, knowing that you will turn your back on Him. He wrote your name in His book. He loves you so much that despite your flaws, habits, and perpetual rebellion, He continues and will continue to love you. The coolest part of it all, is that your story, though it has already been written, is not over yet. God has a plan written down for the rest of your days. How will you engage in His love story today?

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

No one knows you like God knows you. He knows everything about you, even the hidden, mysterious parts of your formation. His intimate involvement in your life from the beginning to the very end is a source of safety, security, and thanksgiving.

More than anything, Psalm 139 is a celebration of God’s presence (like Megan wrote about this week) and his intimacy. For David, this is a reason for comfort and thanksgiving, not fear.

Does God’s intimate knowledge of your life comfort you? It should; being made in God’s image, you were designed for intimacy.

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.