Handmade by God

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.”
Psalm 139:13

I have a confession to make. When I was in high school my mom made me take Home Economics classes (do they even teach that in schools anymore?). I did great for the semester I took cooking. By the time I got to high school I’d already been cooking for a long time. But sewing class was something entirely different. That was probably my most difficult academic pursuit – passed with a ‘D’. So I know very little about sewing and even less about knitting. But what I do know is that it is a hands-on skill, that takes plenty of practice to get good at and that some have more natural ability toward that sort of thing than others.

This week’s passage comes from a psalm of David. Did you know God could knit? I googled what’s the hardest knitting stitch to try and get an idea of just how hard knitting with yarn could be. The search came back with three (my knitting friends may let me know what they think of them) they are the Bobble, the Nupp and the Latvian Braid. I have to admit that I was lost pretty quickly as I watched the “how-to” videos. How much harder it must be to knit a human together in a confined space? Thankfully we have a hands-on God who is skilled enough to put us together any way he wants. In the creation narrative of Genesis God “formed man from the dust and breathed life into him” (Genesis 2:7). Keep reading and God makes the “woman from the rib he took from the man” (Genesis 2:22). Then in the Psalms David tells us that God knits us together.

God doesn’t knit together some drab old human – no David goes on to sing his praises to God because he is “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14). The Hebrew word translated as fearfully in this passage has two different means depending on the context it is found in. In this context it means to be awesome. Sit with this for a minute or more - God handmade me, and he handmade you to be awesome, wonderful, marvelous and amazing. God handmade us and filled us with all the gifts we would need to be and do all that He has purposed for us to do and be

I know the world and even some of the people around us try to tear us down, make us fill like we are less than who we are because we don’t fit into some kind of media driven box. That kind of stuff hurts and makes us weary especially if we fall for the skewed picture our fallen world presents. When that happens – stop, rest and remember… You have been handmade by God to be awesome, wonderful and amazing and that you are all of those things no matter what the world or anyone else says.

A Prayer
Father – Thank you for making us to be awesome, wonderful, marvelous and amazing. Thank you for so skillfully knitting us together in Your image. Remind us often that we are amazing, especially in those times when the world is beating us up, making us feel worthless and anything but amazing. Help us to be encouragers to those around us who need to know that they were handmade by You to be awesome. In the name of Jesus, who makes us awesome – Amen.