It has become almost ritual for me to recite, “I am fearfully and wonderfully made!” when facing my fears or when I am not feeling so confident about my current situation. But, what good is a ritual if there is no faith behind it?
The truth is, sometimes I actually am fearful and I don’t always feel so wonderful about who I am.
You see, sometimes when we quote a scripture that we have heard numerous of times, it becomes more of a tradition rather than a true understanding or belief. Not only do I need to sound confident when reciting it but my MIND and His word need to align with one another. In order to completely grasp this, I had to break down the very details of this particular psalm.
You see Psalm 139:14 says, “I praise you, for I am fearfully…” It didn’t say that I wouldn’t be overcome at times with feelings of fear. The truth of the matter is at times, yes, we ARE afraid. This is when we allow the “spirit of fear” to overwhelm us, and to overcome it we need to place our trust in and love God completely. When He says that we are fearfully made, the word 'fearfully' means: with great reverence and heart-felt interest and respect for God. This doesn’t tell me that I will not face the fears of life, because I will, but in knowing that I serve such a God as He, that I should be in such reverence and should have such a respect for my Father, that I TRUST Him enough to help me overcome every fearful situation faced.
The second half of that says, “…and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.” The word 'wonderfully' means: matchless, set apart, and uniquely awe-inspiring. WOW! No wonder the psalmist surges out with boisterous praise in this verse. God understood the great love and concern that went into His inimitable and very individual creation. According to this Scripture, we truly are His own Master Piece!
Now, we may not always feel as if we are of such great worth, but the thing is WE are! Don’t let your purpose and life be dictated by your emotions. Remember who your Father is. Challenge those negative thoughts and make your mind and emotion align with what He says about you! His word says in Timothy 4:4, “Since everything God created is good, we should not reject any of it but receive it with thanks.” He created YOU.
You know what this means?
You are beautiful. You are enough. You have purpose. You are fearfully and wonderfully MADE!
-Monique B.
___________________
“I am fearfully and wonderfully made”. Do you believe that about yourself?
The scripture Psalm 139:13, 14 is in my bio on Instagram for goodness sake! It reads,
13 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14 Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous – how well I know it.
“…How well I know it…”, but do I really know it? Do I believe it? Yes, I love myself. Yes, I know God loves me. Yes, I love to dress up. Yes, I appear confident. However, my imperfections and flaws sometimes spend more time at the forefront of my mind than my wonderfully made attributes.
Lord, if I’m so “wonderfully made”, why don’t I feel like it? Perhaps I don’t feel like it because I’ve spent so much time focusing on the things about myself that I don’t like! I recently had to make a conscious decision to accept those things about myself that I can’t change as a part of God’s wonderfully made creation. Have you ever considered that it is an insult to God to tell Him that you HATE parts of His creation? Consider this. How would YOUR CHILD feel if they made you a beautiful picture, gave it to you with so much pride, and you looked down at it and said “I hate it” or “I don’t like it”. Your child’s feelings would be CRUSHED. Even if you, the parent, couldn’t exactly understand what the picture was or what it meant, you knew that it was made with so much care and that your child was so proud of it.
That is how God sees us – as His beautiful image that He created with care and attention. Right now, God may be the only one that understands why He made you the way He did. He may be the only one that can interpret your flaws. However, we can trust that He has made no mistake with us. We can trust that He intentionally made us. We can trust that He loves us. We can trust that we were fearfully and wonderfully made by our Savior.
Still having trouble believing it? Join me in my challenge to recite this scripture (Psalm 139:14) every morning when you wake up and every night before you go to bed, until YOU believe it.
-Brianna R.