I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. PSALM 139:14
I KNOW THAT FULL WELL!!!!
My knees still creak but my tennis elbow? Hmmmm. 6 months later I can saw WOW, it’s tremendously improved, noting this after I grabbed laundry without fear of pain. I powered through life, but the underlying healing powers were powered by God in God’s Timing.
Yes, I wore my brace faithfully after the doctor said “you really have to do that, for A MONTH!” Yeah, not just now and then – so I wore it for nearly 2 months… and last few weeks I have misplaced it now, I realized the HEALING… it was a process. I had to plug into the process and not remain idle just watching. I was an active participant in God’s Plan. And I’m JUST talking about my elbow!
So life? Well, wow! This spring day, as my allergies have abated and pollen has petered out, I praise. Next week, I won’t even remember the bother, like not remembering the elbow. BOTH were the worst ever and are now almost afterthoughts… That’s the wonderful in wonderfully made. The sheer intricacies of life and activities are miracles of God. Wonderfully made, orchestrated and tweaked.
Fearfully made too, what does that mean? Fear as in AWE, like how my daughter and I are spitting images to some but I see all the contrasting traits, from the hair to the other aspects… Fear as in Ouch, like how things can go down so fast in health or be taken in a moment. Fear as in placing ourselves and our loved ones out into a dangerous world as well as into a dangerous peer pressure internally. Fearfully as God controls it all, as in the readings from Elijah 6, God has power!!!
I know FULL WELL, to appreciate not the leniency of God, but the MERCY. The ability to approach Jesus for forgiveness is to know GRACE. To remember that the AWESOME power of God can change life because He created it, is a stance we all drift from. We forget but God doesn’t change. HE IS STILL ALL POWERFUL and ALMIGHTY… just as Ezekiel for an unrepentant and unruly Israel of the day… just believe God’s correction in His Reasoning… remember even Jesus came out of a flawed human line of people saved for this purpose, there were saved few. Jesus brought Heaven to Earth, as Earth, also wonderfully made, could not rise back to God’s level… God’s Goodness is Heaven sent, we partake THANKFULLY.
Amen (and thank you Lord for the Blessings and MERCY of today).
Ezekiel 6 New King James Version
Judgment on Idolatrous Israel
Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying: “Son of man, set your face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them, and say, ‘O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God! Thus says the Lord God to the mountains, to the hills, to the ravines, and to the valleys: “Indeed I, even I, will bring a sword against you, and I will destroy your high places. Then your altars shall be desolate, your incense altars shall be broken, and I will cast down your slain men before your idols. And I will lay the corpses of the children of Israel before their idols, and I will scatter your bones all around your altars. In all your dwelling places the cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be desolate, so that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, your idols may be broken and made to cease, your incense altars may be cut down, and your works may be abolished. The slain shall fall in your midst, and you shall know that I am the Lord. “Yet I will leave a remnant, so that you may have some who escape the sword among the nations, when you are scattered through the countries. Then those of you who escape will remember Me among the nations where they are carried captive, because I was crushed by their adulterous heart which has departed from Me, and by their eyes which play the harlot after their idols; they will loathe themselves for the evils which they committed in all their abominations. And they shall know that I am the Lord; I have not said in vain that I would bring this calamity upon them.” ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Pound your fists and stamp your feet, and say, ‘Alas, for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel! For they shall fall by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence. He who is far off shall die by the pestilence, he who is near shall fall by the sword, and he who remains and is besieged shall die by the famine. Thus will I spend My fury upon them. Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when their slain are among their idols all around their altars, on every high hill, on all the mountaintops, under every green tree, and under every thick oak, wherever they offered sweet incense to all their idols. So I will stretch out My hand against them and make the land desolate, yes, more desolate than the wilderness toward Diblah, in all their dwelling places. Then they shall know that I am the Lord.
Psalm 139
For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.
You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely. You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.
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. How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand— when I awake, I am still with you.
If only you, God, would slay the wicked! Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty! They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name. Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord, and abhor those who are in rebellion against you? I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies. Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.