Our Never Ending Journey Towards Purpose
Psalm 139: 13-18 (NIV)
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.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them; they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you.
My Saturday morning ritual as a little girl was getting up early before my sisters and designing my version of a pine straw theater and “stage” in our front yard, complete with ticket booth. Creating cushy seats out of boat safety cushions, a microphone out of the tallest stick I could find and topped with a ball of tree moss I would notify my sisters of the impending “show” and bribe them to come once they were awake. Sooner or later, (usually later), they would begin to gather with their little friends and sit on the comfy boat cushion seats for my “show.” I would then begin to mesmerize them with my “preaching and speaking,” usually about why reading was important or the virtue of not using your older sister’s personal stuff. I loved “performing” for my little sisters, but little did I know all those years ago, that God was preparing me for my big-girl purpose.
I, likewise, didn’t know how much this one verse from Psalm 139 would impact my life, leaving me wondering if I would ever be the same after I first read it
This verse clearly articulates, no matter how you read it, that you and only you were on God’s mind as He knit you together. We will see as we focus our Life Unstuck on Purpose in the Present, that although God had the whole world in mind as He captured the purpose of your life, He only had YOU in mind as He touched and crafted you cell-by-cell, organ-by-organ, design-by-design, plan-for-plan.
The King James Version says, “For thou hast possessed my reins” for the first part. Now, if that isn’t different enough for you, the Hebrew word for “reins” actually denotes the kidneys. Sometimes when I read Gods’ Word, I want to shake my head and go, “Huh? So, God, what you are telling me is that you possess my kidneys?” Almost makes you want to laugh a bit, too, huh? Well, God chuckles at me as I dig deeper into His word, because He knows me all too well. In fact, He knows you, too, and our kidneys as well! So, what do kidneys and reins have to do with our “inmost being?” First of all, we need to look at both translations to explain the fullness of what just the first half says to you and I.
God carefully CRAFTED and OWNS our inmost being.
Back to those kidneys. In ancient Hebrew times, the kidneys were known as the birthplace of man’s (or woman’s) desires and longings and seen as containing the most hidden and vital portion of the person. Makes things come into focus! So, what the Word is saying, as was originally intended, is God created and possesses our desires and longings – every deeply hidden thing that makes up the most important part of us! Wow! I stand in awe of that. The first time I was confronted with this truth, it really made me see God in a more interactive and intimate way than ever before. Many times I have struggled with knowing that my “heart is deceitful above all else” like it says in Jeremiah 17:9, so I didn’t think it was ever a place God would like or claim as His own. But, then I came upon this verse and it changed my thoughts, and heart, my LIFE. God created my desires and longings? God possesses my dreams and aspirations? Yes, ma’am, He certainly does! Why? Because you were created by God for His purpose and pleasure! What an amazing truth!
Your desires and longings have been created and are possessed by God for His purpose and pleasure. You are what God made you to be!
For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. – Philippians 2:13
Thank you Lord that YOU ARE MY CREATOR! You know the plans you have for me. They are plans for GOOD! They are plans of LOVE. Help me Lord, to seek and find your plan for my life. AMEN!
