For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
What do you find remarkable? What strikes you as unusual?
Does it make any difference in the way you live your life? How? Why?
12 comments:
Interesting comments, Annette. Thanks! I think you summed it up well at the end. We have faith, we trust, and bow before the mystery of God, knowing his goodness.
I would love to hear the thoughts of others.
This too is hard for me to understand, what exactly is being said in this Psalm. The first thing that came to my mind was if God knew them in the womb then why are there sick children being born? Maybe it's because I am carrying a child or work at the nursing home where there are children that have such awful diseases. I don't know just the first thing that came to my mind. I will continue to pray and maybe something else will come to me something brillant perhaps!
Joni
I don't know why God allows babies to be "knitted together" imperfectly, either. Maybe, if everything were perfect, no one would think about God. Historically, the poor and afflicted have often been more faithful than the ones whose lives have been smooth and easy. I don't know. It's not a satisfying answer, is it?
What's more interesting to me, though, is the bit about "the secret place" and "the depths of the earth." I've heard different explanations for what this means, usually a reference to the womb. But, it doesn't quite ring true for me.
Donna
I just noticed something; except for Allen, no men have posted on these verses, yet.
Is it just early, or have all the womb references scared them away?
Donna
We always keep coming back to soveriegnty and freewill. It's fascinating, because the two seem mutually exclusive. I read somewhere that, over the gateway to heaven, there's a sign. One side reads "Chosen before the foundation of the earth", the other reads "Whosoever Will." I think we have to accept the paradox, but it drives me nuts.
Donna
this makes my head hurt!!
not really but as brent said another time for us to get God out of the "box"
or little pea brains have a hard time thinking this abstract! we are also uncomfortable with the thought but we should also at the same time find comfort in it because we have this "dad" that knows all, sees all and handles all. it is comforting to know that someone knew all about me before i was. pretty cool.
as donna says a lot of this seems to be a paradox or opposites, but again i think that is because we put all of these constraints on God, his power, our life and religion in general.
i have enough trouble just handling the small things that i have to deal with in one hour of a day, i am big enough to let God handle the big stuff.
Ryan
I love reading all the comments. I cannot get my mind around the fact that God has our days numbered yet there are so many opportunities for prayer to change things.
Any thoughts on the "secret place" or "depths of the earth?
Those verses are some my favorite among the Psalms (if I may be so bold as to try to pick a favorite!)
Specifically, the lines
"All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be."
WOW!! Isn't that powerful stuff!!!
Now...I need to try to live up to what He has in store for me!!!
This verse is comforting to me to know that God knew exactly what was going to happend to me and when. It helps me realize that He was there through all the rough times and knew that those rough times were going to happen.
It makes me wounder if all of the rought times in life were acutally planned by God since he knew they would happen. It seems that I grow the most spiritually after a trying time in life. Its at those points in life that I re-realize my need for Christ.
Could it be then that God knew that at points in my life i would loose sight of my need for Him and so He planned these "rough" times to happen in order to draw me back to Him?
I wonder how much God has planned to happend and how much he leaves up to free will? Because even with free will He knows the decision we will make?
The past couple of weeks has pointed out how omniscient He is.
Given the abundant proof of this why does mankind rebel at following His teachings?
There are so many mind-boggling questions associated with this text, and maybe some of those questions, raised above, keep people from fully trust God. It is clear that David, a pretty intense sufferer in various ways, fully and absolutely trusts God. His story is so helpful in so many ways.
I really appreciate all of you who are helping make this blog work. It really helps me in preparing my sermons. Hopefully as time goes on even more contribute.
No one mentioned this, but I find it very comforting to know God is with us from conception. I also considered how sad it must be to God to know from before time which newborn child will grow up to be a lost adult due to the choices we make throughout our lifetime.
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