TIM E HOLDER

 

 

Psalm 139. “God, investigate my life, get all the facts firsthand. I’m an open book to you; even from a distance, you know what I’m thinking.You know when I leave and when I get back; I’m never out of your sight. You know everything I’m going to say before I start the first sentence. I look behind me and you’re there, then up ahead and you’re there, too—your reassuring presence, coming and going. This is too much, too wonderful—I can’t take it all in! Is there anyplace I can go to avoid your Spirit? to be out of your sight? If I climb to the sky, you’re there! If I go underground, you’re there! If I flew on morning’s wings to the far western horizon, You’d find me in a minute—you’re already there waiting! Then I said to myself, “Oh, he even sees me in the dark! At night I’m immersed in the light!” It’s a fact: darkness isn’t dark to you; night and day, darkness and light, they’re all the same to you. Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother’s womb. I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvelously made! I worship in adoration—what a creation! You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something. Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you, The days of my life all prepared before I’d even lived one day.Your thoughts—how rare, how beautiful! God, I’ll never comprehend them! I couldn’t even begin to count them—any more than I could count the sand of the sea. Oh, let me rise in the morning and live always with you! Investigate my life, O God, find out everything about me; Cross-examine and test me, get a clear picture of what I’m about; See for yourself whether I’ve done anything wrong—- then guide me on the road to eternal life.”

My favorite verse in this psalm is verse 14. A lot of versions translate this verse “I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”

I, of course, thought it great that I was “wonderfully” made. And it seems I spent all my time, when thinking about this verse, landing squarely on the word “wonderfully” made.

If someone is going through a tough time, and I feel it’s my responsibility to make them feel better, verse 14 is a go-to verse. If I can make someone, even for a moment, recognize that they are “wonderfully made,” I’ve done a good thing. That they are incredible. That the Lord put them together exactly the way He wanted them to be. I can go through a litany of phrases with anyone who feels body shamed or self-image shamed or filled with guilt over past mistakes or fearful that the Lord or people have forgotten them. I can remind them, as I do myself, that I am. “Wonderfully” made. And that really is a good, sustainable concept. But, I think it leaves out the single most pivotal point of the verse.

When I tell people they are “wonderfully made,” if I leave that as a stand alone thought, it could possibly lead to selfishness or a sense of entitlement. That we are owed some gift or merits because the Lord thinks we are wonderful. The truth is, He does think we are wonderful. But, why does He think we are wonderful? First and foremost, He showed us how wonderful we are by the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. And even that love leads to the single most important part of verse 14.
There’s a reason why David began the verse with the word “fearfully.” He wanted us to understand that although we are wonderful, the goal was not so much that we are wonderful, but that the Lord God, the Creator of the entire Universe, reverently and with the greatest expectation and design, put us together, molecule by molecule, cell by cell, atom by atom.

The Hebrew meaning for fearfully in this verse means reverential awe or worshipful respect. We were created by the Lord reverently and in worshipful awe. Not that we are worthy of worship. But we were created in wonder by the One who IS worthy of worship. There is no assembly line. There are no pre-fabrication molds. There was only God and nothingness and most surprising, His imagination. A clean slate.

There was an intense, holy time where God fussed over you and me. A fervent anticipation of who He planned for us to be. And why did He give each person in this room such deferential treatment? Because He is faithful and solemnly serious to see His plans fulfilled.

Ephesians 5:15-20 says, “Don’t waste your time on useless work, mere busywork, the barren pursuits of darkness. Expose these things for the sham they are. It’s a scandal when people waste their lives on things they must do in the darkness where no one will see. Rip the cover off those frauds and see how attractive they look in the light of Christ.

Wake up from your sleep. Climb out of your coffins; Christ will show you the light!

So watch your step. Use your head. Make the most of every chance you get. These are desperate times! Don’t live carelessly, unthinkingly. Make sure you understand what the Master wants.

Don’t drink too much wine. That cheapens your life. Drink the Spirit of God, huge droughts of him. Sing hymns instead of drinking songs! Sing songs from your heart to Christ. Sing praises over everything, any excuse for a song to God the Father in the name of our Master, Jesus Christ.”

Why did God take on the self-imposed assignment of creating you? For His glory. So that the world could see through you, that He is good in every circumstance. He is reliable. He is faithful. He is unchanging in his mercy and wisdom and holiness. And that He is not willing to waver in His devotion and interest in even the most minute aspects of our lives.

When we realize the exactness of who we are in Him, when we recognize and fully accept the bottomless implications of why the One who holds the universe in place would take the time to fuss over making you, it focuses every application of every thought, every display of compassion, every song, even every learned eccentricity, every choice, every time we think we chose intuition, when it was in fact, the guiding of His Spirit, every judgement we hold captive, every meal we make, every soul we lead to Jesus.

1 Corinthians 12:12-31 “You can easily enough see how this kind of thing works by looking no further than your own body. Your body has many parts—limbs, organs, cells—but no matter how many parts you can name, you’re still one body. It’s exactly the same with Christ. By means of his one Spirit, we all said good-bye to our partial and piecemeal lives. We each used to independently call our own shots, but then we entered into a large and integrated life in which he has the final say in everything. (This is what we proclaimed in word and action when we were baptized.) Each of us is now a part of his resurrection body, refreshed and sustained at one fountain—his Spirit—where we all come to drink.

The old labels we once used to identify ourselves—labels like Jew or Greek, slave or free—are no longer useful. We need something larger, more comprehensive.

I want you to think about how all this makes you more significant, not less. A body isn’t just a single part blown up into something huge. It’s all the different-but-similar parts arranged and functioning together.

If Foot said, “I’m not elegant like Hand, embellished with rings; I guess I don’t belong to this body,” would that make it so? If Ear said, “I’m not beautiful like Eye, limpid and expressive; I don’t deserve a place on the head,” would you want to remove it from the body? If the body was all eye, how could it hear? If all ear, how could it smell?
As it is, we see that God has carefully placed each part of the body right where he wanted it.

But I also want you to think about how this keeps your significance from getting blown up into self-importance. For no matter how significant you are, it is only because of what you are a part of. An enormous eye or a gigantic hand wouldn’t be a body, but a monster.

What we have is one body with many parts, each its proper size and in its proper place. No part is important on its own. Can you imagine Eye telling Hand, “Get lost; I don’t need you”? Or, Head telling Foot, “You’re fired; your job has been phased out”?

As a matter of fact, in practice it works the other way—the “lower” the part, the more basic, and therefore necessary. You can live without an eye, for instance, but not without a stomach. When it’s a part of your own body you are concerned with, it makes no difference whether the part is visible or clothed, higher or lower. You give it dignity and honor just as it is, without comparisons. If anything, you have more concern for the lower parts than the higher. If you had to choose, wouldn’t you prefer good digestion to full-bodied hair?

The way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church: every part dependent on every other part, the parts we mention and the parts we don’t, the parts we see and the parts we don’t. If one part hurts, every other part is involved in the hurt, and in the healing. If one part flourishes, every other part enters into the exuberance.

You are Christ’s body—that’s who you are! You must never forget this. Only as you accept your part of that body does your “part” mean anything.”

There is no one else in this room right now but you. So, you can’t say, “that is true for everyone here but me. It makes sense for them, not me.” You are the only one here. And God is saying to you, “I made YOU. I made you reverently. I thought about YOU. There is not a single soul on this planet who can do what I’ve made you to do. No one can. Only You. I fearfully made you. So stop being afraid. You no longer have permission to think that you are a less important part of the body that I specifically, carefully and with great hope and determination designed.

Seek wisdom from those who’ve been at it longer. Learn to be confident, adventurous, daring, courageous and unflinching with your faith, intrepid, fearless and wholesome with your words.

Before I created the world, I chose you. And because of my Son, no matter what you think of yourself, I choose you to be holy and without fault before Him.

And I am calling you to travel together with the rest of the body. Stay together. I have given you gifts that no one else in the history of time can fulfill. Your gifts. Moses wouldn’t be able to fulfill the plans I have for you. Not Abraham or Paul or any of the apostles. Not Lydia or Ruth or Esther. My plans for you are unique in all the world.

Don’t go along with the crowd. And don’t believe their weak expectations of me or my love and my heart for your success. Trust me. I’m worth it. And above all, stick together. That’s how the body will work. I knew you before “In the beginning” was written. And rest assured of this. I’ll be with you day after day after day, right up to the end of the world.”