Fearfully and wonderfully made.
David's awe at his own existence. Why your body, your mind, your story — all of it — was deliberate.
The episode in a glance.
- 01'Fearfully' means with reverence — you were made with care, not casually.
- 02'Wonderfully' speaks to the awe-inducing complexity of being human.
- 03The whole psalm celebrates God's intimate knowledge of you.
- 04Your existence is not an accident. It's a deliberate act.
Read along.
Psalm 139 is one long meditation on how thoroughly God knows you. He knows when you sit down and when you get up. He knows the words on your tongue before you say them.
And then verse 14: 'I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.'
'Fearfully' isn't 'with terror.' It's 'with reverence.' You were assembled with the kind of care reserved for sacred things.
'Wonderfully' is the word for something that produces awe — the way you'd describe the night sky, or a newborn's hand. That's how God describes you.
On the days you don't like what you see in the mirror, this is the verse to push back with. You were not a mistake. You were not casually thrown together. You were made — carefully, deliberately, lovingly — by someone who knew exactly what he was doing.