Psalm 139:13-16 The Message
13-16 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.
Word of God for the Children of God.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
SOMETHING TO PONDER
Have you felt at times that you were born at the wrong time or wrong place? Do you feel like God misplaced you, thinking you were meant to live in a different family, another country, or time period in history, where you believe you would have fit in better, enjoyed living more, prospered, had a better quality of life?
Or, maybe like one of the many homeless I counseled, been told your entire life that you were an accident or a mistake a waste, you’ve grown up believing it?
But it isn’t true because God doesn’t make mistakes. He doesn’t put us in the wrong time and place. As well, He hasn’t given people the power to accidentally create another human or assign worth or personal value. Men and women may not have planned the lives of their children, but we know from His word Psalm 139:13-16, that God does plan for all of our eternities which wait far far ahead.
As Psalm 139:16 describes, “Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be.”
God carefully created each one of us, as Psalm 139:13 describes, “For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb.”
No matter the circumstances of our conception or birth, Psalm 139:14 reassures us of God’s plan for us. “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”
Even so, we may continue to still feel like we don’t know which way to turn in life; some may feel lost, but when we’re not sure which way to go, we ask God to lead us, and He will, like Psalm 32:8 assures, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with My loving eye on you.”
Life Makes Sense: God’s Story of You
Psalm 139:16 Living Bible
16 You saw me before I was born and scheduled each day of my life before I began to breathe. Every day was recorded in your book!
We love stories, but it’s surprising how easily we can end up missing the stories God has written for our lives.
Winston Churchill once famously claimed that history was simply “one . . . unpredictable pathway after another over which we have little, no control.”
In other words, he claimed there was no story behind our experiences in life, only a vast series of unpredictable events over which no one has any control.
Few things are more deadening to your soul than thinking that your life ultimately means little more than one unpredictable thing after another.
Yet that’s how we often feel.
On many days we view our jobs or careers or families as where we have “ended up” in life.
In fact, it can seem a bit presumptuous to think there’s some master plan behind whatever situation you are in right now.
But the Bible tells us that the events of our lives make sense because they are part of a much larger story.
The struggles of last month or the victories that we may claim in the next few weeks are not simply chance occurrences.
They are part of a story line that is going somewhere.
The work you do, the people you share life with, the abilities you have, and the weaknesses you struggle with are all part of a diverse collection of elements intended to make for a really good story—the story of you. God’s story of you.
Do you believe this?
Do you believe God?
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Praying …
Psalm 8 The Message
8 God, brilliant Lord,
yours is a household name.
2 Nursing infants gurgle choruses about you;
toddlers shout the songs
That drown out enemy talk,
and silence atheist babble.
3-4 I look up at your macro-skies, dark and enormous,
your handmade sky-jewelry,
Moon and stars mounted in their settings.
Then I look at my micro-self and wonder,
Why do you bother with us?
Why take a second look our way?
5-8 Yet we’ve so narrowly missed being gods,
bright with Eden’s dawn light.
You put us in charge of your handcrafted world,
repeated to us your Genesis-charge,
Made us stewards of sheep and cattle,
even animals out in the wild,
Birds flying and fish swimming,
whales singing in the ocean deeps.
9 God, brilliant Lord,
your name echoes around the world.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 