Posts Tagged: Psalm 139:14
“Strange and Wonderful Creatures”
I did not sleep enough last night. Five hours of sleep may be enough for some, but not for me. However, when I tried for a while to go back to sleep after waking up at 1:00 a.m., I realized that it was not going to happen. I might as well get up and work for a while. My schedule is flexible. I can go back to bed when I get tired. This is a wonderful freedom, and I should not take it for granted. Thank you, Jesus!
So, I got up, drank two cups of coffee, graded students’ assignments for several hours, did my 12-step report, and sent out readings from a couple of 12-step books—Answers in the Heart and A State of Grace.
The reading from Answers in the Heart for today, spoke of being ourselves and being okay with being ourselves. The author used a strange and wonderful phrase to describe how we ought to think of ourselves. We should regard ourselves as “. . . this strange and wonderful creature.” I often think of myself as strange, but wonderful?!? Not so much.
And yet, in Psalm 139:14, we read: “I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.”
The psalmist confesses that all God’s works are wonderful, but he also realizes that he himself is one of those works. He was wonderful and wonderfully thankful. And I am wonderful as well. And so are you.
“I am strange and wonderful” is my mantra for today. May it be yours also.
And now, good night, all you strange and wonderful creatures. This strange and wonderful work of God is going back to bed.
“Fearfully and Wonderfully Made”
“I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.” (Psalm 139:14, English Standard Version)
I have so many good relationships, good work that I get to do, and good things. And yet, I continually struggle with regret and resentment. I really need an attitude adjustment.
I just reached out, took my coffee cup by the handle, and had a sip. Then, I put the cup back on the mug rug. . . . There! I did it again!
These are amazing and complex actions. They involve all kinds of muscles, the names of which I don’t even know. These actions took forethought. In addition, there is hand and eye coordination.
To be able to do these things without anyone helping me is an amazing grace. I have been doing these wondrous things for decades. Why am just now noticing their wonder?
When I am inclined to be a willing prisoner to my own feelings of incompetence, when I am gripped by regrets and resentments, I need to meditate on some small, but wonderful thing. I may soon realize that this “small” thing isn’t small at all, just wonderful.
DOWN TO EARTH BELIEVER
- God’s Specific Likes about Us April 25, 2025God pulled off a surprise love attack on me this morning. God lured me into the trap in a quite trivial way. I thought I would start my day, not by grading students’ assignments, but by reading and meditating on some Scripture. By the way, I am not saying that reading Scripture is trivial. The […]
- “Strange and Wonderful Creatures” March 28, 2025I did not sleep enough last night. Five hours of sleep may be enough for some, but not for me. However, when I tried for a while to go back to sleep after waking up at 1:00 a.m., I realized that it was not going to happen. I might as well get up and work […]
- “Even Computers Need a Rest Sometimes!” February 11, 2025Jumpy cursor! I was trying to grade student assignments, and my cursor was jumping around like a Mexican jumping bean. I would start typing something, and then I would be on a different line. Here is the sort of non-sentences I was ending up with: be Please see my respolownse video. Of course, what I […]
- “Lives as Well as Lips” February 5, 2025“Praise the LORD! Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! Who can utter the mighty deeds of the LORD, or declare all his praise? Blessed are they who observe justice, who do righteousness at all times!” (Psalm 106:1-3, English Standard Version) […]
- DTEB, “The Wanna-Wanna Method” January 29, 2025“. . . work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, Phil. 2:13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:12b-13, English Standard Version) In a text exchange with a friend, he confessed that he really, really wants to make some bad […]
- “Fun, Cat Videos, and Transformation” December 9, 2024“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17, English Standard Version) One of my twelve-step sponsors suggested that I need more fun in my life. He knows me well, but on this one, I was determined to prove him wrong. […]
- “The Enemy is Perfectionism” December 6, 2024“The good is the enemy of the best.” (A common saying.) “The best is the enemy of doing anything at all that is good.” (My take on the saying and my reality.) Some of you have been wondering why I haven’t been posting any of my musings in the past way-too-long. I am tempted to […]
- DTEB, “Getting Christ and Ourselves Back in Focus” November 11, 2024“Col. 3:1 ¶ If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Col. 3:2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. Col. 3:3 For you have died, and your life is hidden […]
- “Search Me!” October 27, 2024“Psa. 139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! 24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalm 139:23-24, English Standard Version) I am participating in a Bible study, and this is a prayer […]
- “Christian Speech” October 26, 2024“Eph. 4:29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” Foulkes, in his excellent commentary on the Book of Ephesians, writes the following, which I quote at some length: “29. Now the […]
Recent Comments