Psalm 139:13-16, The Message

Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;
you formed me in my mother's womb.
I thank you, High God—you're breathtaking!
Body and soul, I am marvelously made!
I worship in adoration—what a creation!
You know me inside and out,
you know every bone in my body;
You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,
how I was sculpted from nothing into something.
Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;
all the stages of my life were spread out before you,
The days of my life all prepared
before I'd even lived one day.

In my mortal mind these verses seem to contradict each other. "I am marvelously made" can be read in a bragging tone, although the previous verse praises the Creator for His work in the handicraft of our human bodies. So when I default to reading some of these verses as if the author was prideful, it's really not a selfish, conceited pride that I'm accustomed to in my daily life and in my own sin - it's the pride of knowing how Awesome our God is to have constructed such complex and beautiful beings. God is the breathtaking one, not me.

On that same note, it's not just the bones, internal organs or external features that make us attractive (and yes, we are all attractive) -- it's our souls and our minds as well. I can't grasp the fact that we're made in God's image, and yet, probably not even a small glimmer of how magnificent or divine He really is. His mind can fathomed all of our days and knows our waking moments, can we understand it? Our anatomy books can explain the way our bodies work and doctors can try to treat illnesses, but God doesn't need a textbook or microscope.

Tonight, I'm in awe. God makes all things wonderful, even me.