Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

Psalm 139 
 

The Inescapable God

To the leader. Of David. A Psalm.

 

O Lord, you have searched me and known me.

You know when I sit down and when I rise up;

    you discern my thoughts from far away.

You search out my path and my lying down,

    and are acquainted with all my ways.

Even before a word is on my tongue,

    O Lord, you know it completely.

You hem me in, behind and before,

    and lay your hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;

    it is so high that I cannot attain it.

 

Where can I go from your spirit?

    Or where can I flee from your presence?

If I ascend to heaven, you are there;

    if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.

If I take the wings of the morning

    and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,

10 even there your hand shall lead me,

    and your right hand shall hold me fast.

11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,

    and the light around me become night,”

12 even the darkness is not dark to you;

    the night is as bright as the day,

    for darkness is as light to you.

 

13 For it was you who formed my inward parts;

    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

    Wonderful are your works;

that I know very well.

15     My frame was not hidden from you,

when I was being made in secret,

    intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

16 Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.

In your book were written

    all the days that were formed for me,

    when none of them as yet existed.

17 How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God!

    How vast is the sum of them!

18 I try to count them—they are more than the sand;

    I come to the end—I am still with you.

 

19 O that you would kill the wicked, O God,

    and that the bloodthirsty would depart from me—

20 those who speak of you maliciously,

    and lift themselves up against you for evil!

21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?

    And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?

22 I hate them with perfect hatred;

    I count them my enemies.

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;

    test me and know my thoughts.

24 See if there is any wicked way in me,

    and lead me in the way everlasting.
 
 
 
Again, I go off the assigned readings for today to offer this devotion.
 
I am writing this on August 24, a week before you get to read it. Early yesterday morning, my wife and I became grandparents once again (or should I say TWICE again). My son and daughter-in-law welcome our newest twin grandsons into our lives, and theirs as well.
 
The new parents decided they didn’t want to know the gender of the babies until they were born. And so, yesterday morning when they called to share the news, my son asked us what our guesses were of the genders. I said one of each. Lisa guessed two girls. We were both wrong. Two boys. Bennett and Nolan.
 
When our son was born, we didn’t know the gender until he arrived either. So when we called home to tell our almost three-year-old daughter that she had a baby brother, her response was, “No, I think it’s gonna be a girl!” I don’t think she ever stopped wishing that.
 
And when I was born, that was before the days of ultrasound and gender reveal parties. Mom and Dad had three boys already and thought they were done having kids. Surprise! Dad celebrated the news of my pending arrival with a martini! I was not what they expected.
 
And when I was born, the doctor came out and told Dad that he had yet another son. Dad said, “Doctor, my wife, Pat, is not going to be happy with you.” The doctor said, “Mr Woodward, I believe your wife will not be happy with you. I just delivered the baby!”
 
I think Mom and Dad got over the fact that four boys were what God had given them.
 
I also shared with my son the words my dad shared with me when I called to let him know our daughter, our first child, was born. Out of his sleepy fog, he said, “Isn’t it great being a dad?” Two hours into it, I had to agree, and 34 years into it, I still agree. I hope and pray my kids and their spouses will, too.
 
The psalmist writes:
 

13 For it was you who formed my inward parts;

    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
 
God knits us together. What God makes is beautiful. Fearfully and wonderfully made.
 
Everyone we see is a child knit by God. Everyone.
 
May we cherish the life given to us, and the lives of those who are shared with us. 
 
Thank you, God, for Bennett and Nolan – wonderfully made.
 

Let us pray:

Dear God, thank you for the wonder of your creation, of which you love and in which you delight. May we do the same. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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