Replies

------------------------------------------------------
DAY 23 INTENTION
------------------------------------------------------

For the medical community, that the truth they know about the human body may become awe and wonder at the God who made it.

------------------------------------------------------
SCRIPTURE
------------------------------------------------------

Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them.

--Psalm 139:16

------------------------------------------------------
REFLECTION by Rev. J. Kirk van der Swaagh
------------------------------------------------------

Human beings -- God's tapestries.

Psalm 139 is a psalm that reveals the enormity and otherness of God. His divine attributes are on display: omniscience (2-4), omnipresence (7-12), loving-kindness (17-18), justice (19-20), righteousness (23-24), and omnipotence.

Yet, when it came to express this last attribute, what example did the psalmist use -- God's creation of mountains, seas, or far-flung galaxies? No, he used none of these.

To express the wonder of God's unparalleled creative power the writer mentions the fashioning of the human in the womb (14-16).

The Hebrew word used to express God's forming of us in the womb, raqam, is the same term for needlework or embroidery.

In other words, we are a tapestry that displays God's artistic mastery.

And, like the artist who knows his creation down to the last detail, God intimately knows us. This reality provokes the writer to awe and wonder. He proclaims, "I am fearfully and wonderfully made."

What is true for this psalmist is true for each human being.

Each is fashioned by God and known by him and we can proclaim on behalf of each, "I am fearfully and wonderfully made."

------------------------------------------------------
PRAYER
------------------------------------------------------

Gracious God, help us to appreciate the wonder and beauty of Your creation.

Help us proclaim on behalf of every one of our fellow human beings, "I am fearfully and wonderfully made."

May the knowledge that we are intimately known by You shape our lives and actions. Amen.