Fearfully And Wonderfully Made | Breakfast For Your Soul

Posts Tagged ‘fearfully and wonderfully made’

Made By God

Written by FAVORED1 on March 9, 2010 – 2:49 pm -

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

I will praise You; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are Your works; and that my soul knows right well.
[Psalm 139:14]

MADE BY GOD!

Good Afternoon Beloved,

I absolutely love this verse. Barring a mental medical condition, there should not be an insecure member in the Body of Christ. For many years, this has been a quiet, almost polarizing thought in Christiandom. One side believing that in order to be meek and humble like our Lord, we must almost denegrate ourselves (“At last and did my Savior bleed and did my Sovereign die, would He devote that Sacred Head for such a worm as I’) … beautiful words from a pure heart of total devotion to God. The other side verging on “spiritual arrogance”. There are also a few scriptures that would seem to support the “worm” thought as well:

I have said to corruption, Thou art my father: to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister. [Job 17:14]

How much less man, that is a worm? and the son of man, which is a worm? [Job 25:6]

But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people. [Psalm 22:6]

Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. [Mark 9:44]

(*This phrase is mentioned 3 times in Mark)

Even the Lord seems to support it by this verse:

Though you are a lowly worm, O Jacob, don’t be afraid, people of Israel, for I will help you. (Isaiah 41:14)

What is going on here? Are we “fearfully and wonderfully” made or are we “worms”. Remember the Bible tells us to “rightly divide the Word of Truth” (2 Timothy:2:15). Does the character of who God is support what is being said? What part does our English translation play in all this? Well, I was puzzled, so I looked at the phrases a little deeper. In Isaiah, it is interesting to me that God calls “Jacob” a “lowly worm” and acknowleges the people of Israel as “people”. Remember God changed Israel’s name from “Jacob” which means “deceiver“, to the honorable ‘Israel’ which means “God Wrestler or “Champion of God“. If you notice, sometimes God uses the names interchangebly when discussing “Israel’s” descendants. Possibly based on what they were doing at the time. When He called them the people of “Jacob”, they were probably “cuttin’ up” (as my grandma would say), and when He called them Children of “Israel”, He was speaking into their future as His people, and remembering His covenant with them. Regarding Mark 9, I noticed a note tagged on this verse by Ezra Palmer Gould, cited by A.T. Robertson, Word Pictures and Henry Swete, The Gospel According to Saint Mark. It said:

Where their worm [*which preys on the inhabitants and is a symbol of the wounds inflicted on the man himself by his sins] does not die, and the fire is not put out. (Mark 9:48)

In that instance, it would seem that Mark is speaking of that which will face eternal destruction. Fascinating. What amazes me is that God never leaves us without an answer. The issue for me was settled when Jesus told His disciples:

Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of My Father I have made known unto you. [John 15:15]

And Galatians takes it over the top ~

But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore you are no more a servant, but a *son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. [Galatians 4:4-7]

(*son having more to do with position, than gender… ladies in this context we are “sons”, the same as the fellows are members of the “bride” of Christ)

BALANCE… God does not tell us this for use to get a “big head” or become puffed up and prideful. He told us who we were so that we would have no excuse for being what He called us. All pity-parties were cancelled by His Word… now we can work… build the Kingdom, produce fruit.. be that church “without spot or wrinkle or any such thing” [Ephesians 5:27] …

… and THAT Beloved is Good News!

Y Stress? … U Blessed!

Have A Fabulously Wonderful Day

Regina

“I Give You Praise”, Darwin Hobbs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c48LkI0ZQTE

“Take Me In”, Kutless

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0cuOawD_I8

“Is My Living In Vain”, The Clark Sisters

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWtrpuPHDcM

“With Long Life”, Israel & New Breed (dance by Angels of Praise)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgRs_aXUWuk

Made From Good Stock

Written by FAVORED1 on July 13, 2009 – 10:01 am -

Monday, July 13, 2009

I will praise You; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are Your works; and that my soul knows right well.

[Psalm 139:14]

Made From Good Stock

Good Morning Beloved,

Happy Monday! Ad execs spend billions every year trying to convince us otherwise. They try to tell us how utterly pitiful we are, and if we only buy their toothpaste/watch/car/cereal/juice, etc… that we will be unstoppable, unconquerable and fabulous. Heads will turn, birds will sing, and we will get the corner office in the penthouse suite. I heard my daughter lamenting that a certain shampoo that “promised” to keep hair from ‘poofing’ did not live up to its claim. “Caveat emptor” meaning “let the buyer beware” or in layman’s terms “Oh well…”. There is a balance. We are fearfully and wonderfully made, however the Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 7:18 ~

For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwells no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.

and we are told in 2nd Corinthians 4 ~

For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

God doesn’t want us to get it twisted, the glory in us is Him. He can take all of the credit, because without Him we could do nothing. Even to those who have made themselves His enemy, whatever measure of success they have can be attributed to God. How? Without the breath He has given them… they would be dead. That’s why the Word declares “let EVERYTHING that has breath praise the Lord”. By shear virtue of the ‘thing’ having breath testifies of God’s goodness and mercy. It’s another chance we have been given. We should always desire to be better. If something needs ‘tweaking’, tweak it. Don’t like your hair change it, don’t like your weight do something about it, but watch how you talk about God’s Beloved (you)! I’ve heard people literally curse their own bodies, by constantly speaking death and a hatred of themselves… those folks need to change their confession, and speak life over themselves. How can a person hate themselves and love others? That is a problem. Seeing ourselves through the eyes of God will give us a whole new prospective. He loves us through our imperfections, and gives us the power and grace to make whatever change needs to be made.