Formed to His Specifications
Psalm 119: 73-80
Verses 73-74 Your hands made me and formed me; give me understanding to learn Your commands. May those who fear You rejoice when they see me, for I have put my hope in Your word.
Today we start the 10th stanza of this prayerful song about the law. He begins this portion with an acknowledgement of God being the Creator and what that can mean for us.
We live in a day and age where people want to deny God and His sovereignty but the psalmist says that it is God who made him and that it wasn’t just by chance but that he was formed. The implication behind being formed is that attention was given to every detail, to the minutest cell. God didn’t want all people to be carbon copies of each other as though processed in a factory. In fact God decided to do the complete opposite.
We don’t have to look far to notice differences in everyone we come into contact with. Even identical twins are not exactly alike. The differences are more than just the ones we see of light hair and dark, brown eyes and blue, tall and short, thin and robust. He has formed us to each have a distinct personality and purpose.
While there are four basic personality traits not one person is solely one or the other. Much like the many colors in the world around us are not a color to themselves but are a mix of primary colors, we are an intricate blend of the personalities to be the person God desires us to be. He may have blessed us with a more outgoing personality so that we can make people feel at ease around us allowing us an opportunity to share Christ or maybe He made us quiet so that a more introverted person would feel comfortable in our presence making way for friendship.
No matter how God made us, we were made in a way that we can understand Him and His Word. He designed us with the capabilities needed to seek out understanding from Him and the desire to do so. Sadly we often use that desire for understanding to seek out more knowledge of the world and then we start seeing things in a distorted view, a view that misses the reflection of our Lord and Savior. Our desire needs to be that of the psalmist, that the Lord would be glorified by our doing what He made us to do.
Making It Personal
Have you ever wondered why God made you who He made you to be? What portions of your personality could be used to reach people with the Gospel? How can you glorify God today?
Making It Personal Kids
Have you ever wondered why Jesus made you who He made you to be? How could who He made you to be, help reach people for Jesus? What can you do today that will show someone that Jesus’ loves them?
Closing Prayer
Father, thank You for making us who You desired us to be. Help us know how we can best serve You and Your kingdom. Keep shaping us into the people You want us to be. In Jesus’ name, amen.