I Am Wonderfully Made

Psalm 139:13-16

“We don’t make mistakes, we have happy little accidents.” As an amateur painter, I struggle with that. It can feel a lot more like a mistake when I have a vision in my mind and I’m trying to bring that vision to fruition. Yet, Bob Ross makes an excellent point. Sometimes, there are things in show up that aren’t welcome, but if they do show up, that’s because they were meant to be there. Nothing happens that is outside the will of God, whether it is how a painting ends up or even your life. I’m sure there are parts of your life that you are not really happy about.

I expect you today to have moments of uncomfortableness during this message. These words are hard for people to hear, but please allow yourself to let these words sink in: you are wonderful as you are. This typically makes people uncomfortable because we don’t usually see ourselves that way. We see ourselves and see flaws. Imperfections. Pains. Age. Scars. I look at myself and often see Cystic Fibrosis; someone who is skinny and frail; someone who created a lot of problems for other people. Thus, when someone says something nice about me, it often makes some feel undeserving or overly vulnerable. But how we feel about ourselves is not reality. Reality is that you are a masterpiece of God.

God Made You Wonderful

David wrote this psalm praising God because of God’s intimate knowledge over David. The psalm begins and ends with the invitation and realization that God searches David and knows his heart. We are known by God with a depth and an intimacy that is only possible by the one who hand-crafted us from the beginning. It’s similar to the way a parent knows a child, but it runs oh so much deeper. We all think we know our children and we do! We know their schedules and their likes and their habits, but all we can really do is see them in action and learn. That’s not the same as the way God knows us – just look at the intimacy and depth in these verses: God formed our inward parts, knitted us together, saw our hidden frame while intricately weaving us in the depths. This is more like an artist and a painting. An artist has to see what’s not there, determine the tools needed to produce the right colors, and agonizes over the layers and layers of work and re-work, and changes the work until they get the image they want. An artist is an imperfect creator and God is the perfect Creator – two very different things, but if anything these verses highlight the detailed work God put in to build us from neurons, cartilage, and chromosomes to the inner chambers of our hearts and precisely poured the chemicals that would control our thoughts and hormones. God did a work of artistry in you.

He Loves You Very Much

This is an effort-filled process. And I thought planning a wedding was hard work! I got assigned by my wife to handle the schedule of the big day and it was crazy trying to manage all the comings and goings for that one day, but it was nothing compared to the detaild tapestry that God did in you. The effort God spent on making you—mind you that this creation effort was David talking about his life which means this is not an original design thing or the creation of Adam in a sinless state, David was born in sin just like you were—the effort God spent making you from sperm and egg with care and detail known to no other aspect of creation is confirmation of His deep, deep love for you. Whether it’s planning out your days or counting your hairs or weaving your spinal column; God has put effort into you. And like the artist that bleeds for their work, God’s effort is a huge sign of His love. And it’s agape love – unconditional – which is the word used in John 3:16 and 1 John 4:8 (among others). This means God put His top effort of His never stopping or giving up love into you as His canvas. God formed, knitted, woven, saw, and wrote His love into you. You are God’s masterpiece!

Next Steps

Yet we still have this problem of our imperfections. Varicose veins, bum knees, strokes, introverted personality. Insert whatever problem you have with yourself here. Partly, this is sin’s fault, but again, with David authoring this, sin was already well known. In Psalm 51 David acknowledges that his mother conceived him in sin! Sin is sin and it is an affront to God, but God is in the business of taking the bad and working out good from it. I am confident that He used my genetic illness to rein me in and keep me tethered to God with my overly independent and determined personality. Your seeming imperfections are used by God as paint strokes that progress your path towards Him.

1. Seek a deep relationship with God like you would a potential spouse – give him time and your effort into the relationship. Go all out!
2. Accept God’s paint strokes in your life even though they may not be what you wanted.
3. Stop destroying yourself and choose healthier: both physically and spiritually. You are worth it!

Maybe it was a wreck that happened. Maybe someone hurt you or you were born with challenges. None of that changes the truth: you are a masterpiece of God—in fact, those challenges of life do the opposite; they show how wonderful you are even in the midst of the brokenness of life. Accept that you are a wonderful work of God, who knows and loves you fully.