Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you. Psalm 139:14-18 ESV

I have heard this passage referenced and preached at pregnancy resource center banquets, at baby showers and Sanctity of Life Sunday.  But the psalmist was praising God for his own life, not just the miracle of birth, but the wonder of an entire life.

God knows and formed the details of my entire life. Not an off-the-cuff reaction to circumstances. The plans of a Sovereign God, who thinks of me, and in whose mind I am precious.

How does this relate to chronic illness and trials or adverse circumstances?  My illness does not diminish my worth to God. The One who knows every detail of every day of my life has a purpose for my illness. I may not understand the reason for my circumstances, but I do know that my life is not a result of chance. My Creator is not an impersonal, cosmic being who creates and then detaches.

And I am never alone. Never, not for a minute. If my life is so precious to God, then I have no right to devalue my own life because it doesn’t look the way I want it to look. My life has purpose. My life has meaning.

I am fearfully and wonderfully made by an All-Wise Creator.