Intricately woven
Psalm 139:1-18 (my favorite psalm), says a lot of incredible things. One of them is this (verse 15)…
My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret, intricately woven
in the depths of the earth.
I’ve read this psalm dozens of times. I picked it to be read at my ordination and my installation. I also did an extensive study on it in seminary.
The psalm is all about how God knows us better than we or anyone else knows us. God is the one who crafted us - who stitched us together in our mother’s womb. For we are “fearfully and wonderfully made”
But for some reason, this week (it’s one of the lectionary texts for next Sunday), the verse about being “intricately woven in the depths of the earth” hit me. Wow…
I love how earthy the Hebrew Scripture is. God forms us out of the dirt. We are God-breathed dirt creatures and God enjoys getting His hands messy. God knew us before we even entered a human womb and were being made in the womb of the earth.
There is nothing we can say, think, or do that God doesn’t know before we even say it. Which would be terrifying if God didn’t reveal Himself in Jesus to show with his own blood that he loves us in spite of all of it. I have nothing to hide because I cannot hide anything from this God. So I don’t need to repress any part of my life from Him. I can consciously bring it all to God. For God is already there, looking at it with the deepest compassion. It is His eternally loving gaze that heals and redeems the most buried and busted aspects of my life.
What an epiphany to have.
In Joy,
Jonas+
Beautiful and just what my heart needed this morning.
Psalm 139 is on my favourite Psalms, but my favourite version of Psalm 139 is from the Passion Translation. I know many translators shudder & condemn TPT as a bad translation, but I love it for many of the same reasons that I love the Chosen series. Here are 2 sections that I really appreciate.
Psalm 139:1-6 TPT
[1] Lord, you know everything there is to know about me. [2] You perceive every movement of my heart and soul, and you understand my every thought before it even enters my mind. [3-4] You are so intimately aware of me, Lord. You read my heart like an open book and you know all the words I’m about to speak before I even start a sentence! You know every step I will take before my journey even begins. [5] You’ve gone into my future to prepare the way, and in kindness you follow behind me to spare me from the harm of my past. You have laid your hand on me! [6] This is just too wonderful, deep, and incomprehensible! Your understanding of me brings me wonder and strength.
Psalm 139:13-18 TPT
[13] You formed my innermost being, shaping my delicate inside and my intricate outside, and wove them all together in my mother’s womb. [14] I thank you, God, for making me so mysteriously complex! Everything you do is marvelously breathtaking. It simply amazes me to think about it! How thoroughly you know me, Lord! [15] You even formed every bone in my body when you created me in the secret place; carefully, skillfully you shaped me from nothing to something. [16] You saw who you created me to be before I became me! Before I’d ever seen the light of day, the number of days you planned for me were already recorded in your book. [17-18] Every single moment you are thinking of me! How precious and wonderful to consider that you cherish me constantly in your every thought! O God, your desires toward me are more than the grains of sand on every shore! When I awake each morning, you’re still with me.