SG7 - "Fearfully and Wonderfully Made … For What?" Ps. 139:13-14
Reboot: Seeing God as God Again
Total Devotion '15-'16
Psalm 139:1-18(NASB)
OLord, You have searched me and knownme.
2You know[a]when I sit down and[b]when I rise up;
You understand my thought from afar.
3You[c]scrutinize my[d]path and my lying down,
And are intimately acquainted with all my ways.
4[e]Even before there is a word on my tongue,
Behold, OLord, You know it all.
5You have enclosed me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me.
6Suchknowledge is too wonderful for me;
It istoohigh, I cannot attain to it.
7Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
8If I ascend to heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in[f]Sheol, behold, You are there.
9If I take the wings of the dawn,
If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,
10Even there Your hand will lead me,
And Your right hand will lay hold of me.
11If I say, “Surely the darkness will[g]overwhelm me,
And the light around me will be night,”
12Even the darkness is not dark[h]to You,
And the night is as bright as the day.
Darkness and light are aliketo You.
13For You formed my[i]inward parts;
You wove me in my mother’s womb.
14I will give thanks to You, for[j]I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works,
And my soul knows it very well.
15My[k]frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
Andskillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;
16Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
And in Your book were all written
The days that were ordainedfor me,
When as yet there was not one of them.
17How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand.
When I awake, I am still with You.
- In more detail than we did during our last meeting, describe the heaven you want to go to?
During my message, I shared this with you:
"Most of us set our lives up, chasing the things we do, chasing the people we do, spending the time, resources, and energy we do, doing the things we do … to try to reach our personal heaven … heaven according to us … the heaven that would make us happy, according to the way we see things. We set up our lives to try to reach OUR ideal - either now or in the future.
And that would be fine … if we were self-existent and had the authority to do so. But the fact is, we're not self-existent, and we don't have the authority to do so. Authority comes from the word author. The author has the right to authorship, to write the story for everyone in his story … the story he is writing.
Every person in an author's story is there for a reason, to fulfill some theme, to develop some plot, to enhance some idea, some mood, some scene. It is the author's call as to how he wants each person to look, as to what their personalities will be, as to what they will or won't be doing in the story, as to how long they'll even be in the story, and in what capacity. He is the Author and Finisher of our faith."
Think about the magnitude of this truth and to let it sink in
- What changes would happen in your life if you really knew in your heart of hearts that this is indeed true? What is preventing you from making these changes? Be real.
"For Youformed my[inward parts;Youwove me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to You, for[I am fearfully and wonderfully made;Wonderful are Your works,And my soul knows it very well."
I spent a solid portion of my message trying to give us an idea of what "fearfully and wonderfully made" could be referring to. I wondered whether there was a fear when God made mankind in general, and when He made us specifically. Listen from 29:00 - 37:48 of Pt. 1 of the message, and from 0:00 - 12:30 of Pt. 2 of the message, and then answer the following:
- When God made you, what do you think He may have been fearful of when He gave you your personality, your temperament, your talents, your looks, your family, your soul, your life?
- God had something in mind when He endowed you with your specific make up. Explore what you think He had in mind for you. Why do you think He made you the way you did? What do you think the consummate you - the way He originally thought you up and is redeeming you to be - is like in His mind and plan?
At this young point of your life, you don't really know the big reasons God made you and what He made you for; but He has likely given you little inklings and little signs. You just have to slow down long enough to actually give thought and prayer to it.
- Look up the following verses/passages and read them not as general verses that are good to know; but instead, read them in light of your life and how what they may mean for you. Some verses can be taken as directly applicable to you, while others were written for other people in other situations, but have import for your life. Jot down any notes/thoughts that arise. Enjoy.
- Jeremiah 29:4-14
- Proverbs 3:5-6
- Jeremiah 1:5
- Proverbs 16:9
- Ecclesiastes 3:1-22