When we think about God saying, “You are welcome,” we think about things like answering our prayers for a job, protecting our sixteen-year-old when he or she had a wreck, the words ‘in remission’, and most of all…for Jesus’ unfair and totally sacrificial death on the cross for our sins. But that’s not all he says, “You are welcome,” for. Take a minute to open your Bible and read Psalm 139:13-16. After you are done reading, think about the words God inspired David to use. The words: • Knit. Have you ever knitted anything? Have you ever watched someone knit something? Have you ever worn something that was knitted? Knitting is intentional and precise. Every stitch is carefully joined to the previous one ‘just so’. It is done this way so that the finished product is useful and functional. Hhhmmmm…. • Praise. David praises God for making him the way he did. Again, hhhmmm…. • God’s work is described as wonderful. Do you remember learning about synonyms in English class? Synonyms are words with similar meaning. So, if God’s work, aka YOU, is wonderful, then words like ‘fat’, ‘ugly’, ‘worthless’, ‘nobody’, ‘un-loveable’, ‘loser’, and ‘failure’ don’t belong in your resume or the way you are described and perceived. Not even by you. Especially not by you. • Not hidden. God saw you even before he made you. He knew exactly what he had in mind before you were conceived. Then when you were, the image he had in his mind’s eye became the reality of you. He watched over every second of your development so that you would be ‘just right’. You are not a mistake. You are not merely a result of the physiological process of the human body. You are the reality of God’s idea…his plan for his universe. • Ordained. That’s a word we don’t hear or use too often. It means ‘established’, ‘predetermined’, ‘declared’, ‘confirmed’, and ‘decided’. In other words, when God created you…even before God created you, he decided how long your life will be here on earth. That’s a lot to take in, quite honestly. Some people I know find it frightening. Others say it’s impossible—even some who profess to be believers. But me? I say it is reassuring. I say that because it proves to me that God really does have a specific plan for me. That he sees me as an individual vs. a fish in the sea of humanity. It says he is the God who stays the course. It says that there is nothing happenstance about me or my life. It says I don’t have to be alone and that I don’t have to lose a minute’s sleep over what my life is to be about.
So, yes, I believe with my whole heart that these verses are God’s way of saying, “You are welcome.” And to that I say, “Thank you.”
Love,
Momma D
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