This morning,  I was reading Psalm 139 which discusses God being an all-seeing, all-knowing, all-powerful, and omnipresent God. It explores how much God knows about us (everything), how long He’s known this information (before we were born), everything He thinks about us (He thinks we’re pretty awesome), and how much we’re on His mind (every millisecond of every day for all of eternity).

The Holy Spirit, however, seemed to be grieved as it told me that despite God feeling this way about His people, we don’t seem to know these things, or at least act like we know them.

“They [the collective us] act as if some manufacturer made them, like some mass producer of product created them. They discard themselves so easily, they make poor choices and misuse their bodies and talents as if there’s not something special about them.”

As I sat and listened, I realized that we really cannot fathom how much God really cares about us. Even David admitted this in verse six of this Psalm. Look how complex and detailed Psalm 139 (New Living Translation) is about how God sees us:

¹ O Lord, you have examined my heart
and know everything about me.
² You know when I sit down or stand up.
You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.
³ You see me when I travel
and when I rest at home.
 You know everything I do.
⁴ You know what I am going to say
      even before I say it, Lord.
⁵ You go before me and follow me.
You place your hand of blessing on my head.
⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
      too great for me to understand!

¹³ You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body
      and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
¹⁵ You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,
as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
¹⁶ You saw me before I was born.
Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out
      before a single day had passed.

¹⁷ How precious are your thoughts about me,O God.
They cannot be numbered!
¹⁸ I can’t even count them;
      they outnumber the grains of sand!
And when I wake up,
you are still with me!

Verse 14 of this Psalm is a famous one that we hear all the time (but in the King James translation, it reads differently):

I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

We quote this, hang this up in our office cubicles, tell it to people when asked “how are you doing?” — but do we really understand what God is saying about us in this verse?

Not only did he say you were WONDERFULLY made, but He said you were FEARFULLY made… what does that mean exactly?

Wonderfully comes from the Hebrew root word palah which means:

1) to be distinct, marked out, be separated, be distinguished

Fear comes from the Hebrew root word yare’  which means:

1) to fear, be afraid
2) to cause astonishment and awe, be held in awe
3) to inspire reverence or godly fear or awe

This means that there is something in you that causes people to be in reverential awe of you. The God in your requires that! He made us in His image, and when we operate at our highest potential, we are an awe, a wonder to those we encounter! Not only that you were made to be set apart, highly regarded, distinguished!

When we know and understand how God really feels about us, we’re better suited to engage in and create opportunities for us to operate at our highest potential.

I challenge you to mediate on what God has said about you and how He feels about you today. Knowing and understanding just how important you are to Him can change your outlook on everything!

On the Chase,

Alisha L.