Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

GLOW SUNDAY

Scripture Texts: Psalm 139:1-18

Our GLOW girls theme verse for this year comes from Psalm 139:13-14

Of the 150 psalms in the Book of Psalms we all have a few favorites, our top ten list perhaps.  Psalm 1, 8, 19, 23, 51, 91, 100, 121, 139, 150.

This is truly a classic, one of the most beautiful pieces of poetry ever written.

Who is Psalm 139 about?

It would be easy to say it is about the psalmist, about David who wrote it.  He says he is fearfully and wonderfully made.  There is a lot of I, I, I in the psalm.

But the psalm is also very much all about God.  David is reflecting on himself and his life and realizing it is all about God from beginning to end.

John Calvin wrote in the very first paragraph of his Institutes of the Christian Religion, “Nearly all the wisdom we possess, that is to say, true and sound wisdom, consists of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves.”  That’s what Psalm 139 does, it gives us wisdom about our God and ourselves.

This psalm is poetic theology or theological poetry.  It is deeply theological, about God and about God’s omniscience, omnipresence and omnipotence, but it says all that without using any big theological words.  It says the truth about God in words that are very personal, down to earth, even a child can understand.  That is part of the beauty of this Psalm.

Since it is written that way I am going to preach it that way.  Rather than have three points of God’s omniscience, God’s omnipresence and God’s omnipotence, my three points will be God knows me, God is with me and God made me.