or 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.
– Psalm 139:13-14
My grandmother used to painstakingly knit these wonderful afghans together. I remember her sitting in her chair, surrounded by strings of colorful yarn, clicking her long knitting needles together. Each color of yarn, type of loop, and knitted line was built one on top of the other to create a wonderfully comfortable blanket that would keep me warm in the winter. I loved those blankets.
Did you know we are designed the exact same way? God “knit” each one of us together with a definite and purposeful plan. Each part created to make a wonderfully and fearfully whole. But what does it mean exactly, to be fearfully and wonderfully made, and why is that important?
I think it’s easy to forget that we were each made with a singular and distinct purpose in mind. When we roll out of bed in the morning and our joints creak or our pain (whether it is physical or emotional) comes flooding back, we may wonder—“How is this wonderfully made?” When the glossy, air-brushed pictures of ideal perfection in the checkout aisle stare back at us, we may identify with the more “fearfully made” description rather than the “wonderfully made” one, right?
If you identify with this feeling (and haven’t we all), I quickly want to point out some amazing, exceptional, and biologically diverse characteristics unique to you and me and the rest of the human race. When you look at the body’s systems like the immune, the cardiovascular, the pulmonary, and the neurological systems it’s hard not to marvel at these intricate and perfectly designed elements that are timed to work in tandem with one another.
Not only that, but only humans are able to create art, think abstractly, formulate explanations, operate from moral compasses, and treat others with compassion, care, and loyalty long-term, in many instances, even for life. Other Earthly lifeforms cannot and do not do this.
I personally cannot fathom something so sophisticated and unique as the human body not having an intelligent and compassionate designer behind it. That’s why I don’t buy the theory that we were made by some coincidental happenstance. Even some scientists agree with my take. German-American rocket scientist and aerospace engineer, Wernher van Braun (1912–1977) stated, “Certainly there are those who argue that the universe evolved out of a random process, but what random process could produce the brain of a man or the system of the human eye?” My answer… “It wasn’t random, it was God!”
Not only are our bodies purposely made, but so are our souls. God put each one of us on this Earth with a definite plan in mind. We are not rudderless, hopeless entities without a reason to live. We are here to serve God and one another and we are here to encourage each other in God’s work for one another. When we forget that we are fearfully and wonderfully made by God, we forget that we are designed for better and higher principles.
So, imagine what it would be like if we all thought like God. What if we looked at ourselves and each other as grand designs with purpose? Imagine how differently we would treat ourselves and each other. Racism, sexism, or any other bias would simply not exist because we would see each other as masterpieces of God. We would stop seeing our differences as weakness and begin seeing them as distinct, decisively, and divinely given gifts. In short, we would love ourselves and each other as God loves us.
When God let us know he personally knit each one of us together, he was saying, “I designed you to be you. Embrace your unique dissimilarities and learn to use them in harmony with one another. Only then will my ultimate plan for you blossom and work.”
