SBS Week 1: Myself – Day 2
Today’s scripture is Psalm 139:13-16
13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 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,
16 your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
The question for today is: What specifically is wonderful about you?
This little section of scripture makes me nervous to post, because it has been used and misused in countless different ways. But what I’m going to take out of it today, is that very first line: “you created my inmost being”.
Look what I found in the King James: “For thou hast possessed my reins”. Now, don’t you think that if God “hast possessed my reins”, that means that at one point, God controlled my life? But somehow, I’ve been doing dumb things and screwing up and hurting people and causing problems. It doesn’t sound like God is possessing my reins anymore, does it? So, somewhere in there, God let go? God gave up control over my life, sometime after he finished creating my inmost being?
Wow. I’m not sure how I feel about where this is going. If God gave up control over my life, but he still has all of my days written down, what does that say about God? What does that say about me?
Okay, I’m still thinking out loud, so go with me here……If God created me and had “possessed my reins”, and then gave up control, then who has control? Anyone? Karma? Destiny? Fate? Or worst of all, me? Okay, so God gave up control of my life; He gave me Free Will. So when I choose to do the dumb things that hurt people – do you think that sometimes God would want to reach back in and say “Nope, sorry you’re done. Slide over, it’s my turn to drive.” ? But God doesn’t do that. He lets us continue to grip the reins even as things are spiraling out of control.
So, when we decide on our own to come back to God and voluntarily turn over the reins, isn’t that a bigger statement of faith, of trust, of love than if God had just kept control to begin with?
Okay, wow…I’m still processing this stuff, but I’m going to bed right now. If I come up with something else to add, I’ll put it in.