Our psychologized society has enshrined self-esteem as its most important value in raising children. Rightly, Christians have critiqued this. We are sinners before a holy God who need rescue from slavery and propitiation from wrath. We need a new heart of flesh to replace the heart of stone.
But in that emphasis, I fear we miss another truth. There is a certain portion of the Christian population where the “I am sinner” theme rings loudly in their ears.
But they don’t hear these words:
For you formed my inward parts, you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works, my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from you when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed substance,
In your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me when as yet there was none of them.
Psalm 139:13-16
In this well-known passage, the writer rejoices in God’s work in knitting him together. He knows he is a special creation of God. And this same God has the days and plans for him spelled out. God is not a distracted, distant God, but he is powerful and intimately involved in the writer’s life, my life, and your life.
My Soul Knows This Well
But let this phrase capture our attention – my soul knows it very well.
All of these objective facts about God can be held at a distance. To use the phrase –they are in our head but not in our heart.
The Psalmist says I know in my heart that you care for me. My soul knows these things well.
Part of growing in maturity is having a deeper sense of God’s love for me – to know that love in a deeper way. This is what Paul prays for the Ephesians in chapter 3. “… that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:17-19).
They are already Christians but they need and can have a deeper sense of God’s love. That’s what Paul is praying for.
God knows you and has good plans for you. No matter your trials, the love of Christ for you surpasses knowledge. Does your soul know that full well?
Maybe that could be a prayer for 2025.
