I have always suspected that it was true. The way my now wife but then girlfriend used to look at me suggested it was true. When I was in my late teens and early twenties, I was almost certain it was true. You should have seen me then. I had a full head of beautifully blond hair, my bright blue eyes had perfect vision, and my muscular frame was always ready to respond to the task at hand. If you would have seen me then… I bet you would have thought it was true.
I will admit lately I have become increasingly uncertain that it is still true. These days I have to apply sunscreen to the top of my head, so I don’t burn my bald spot, I have trouble reading a menu through my progressive lenses, and my frame now creaks and cracks under an ever-increasing load of blubber. As the years go by, I will admit that there have been times when I have doubted that it was true.
Thankfully, this last week my doubts have disappeared, and my suspicions have been confirmed. For those of you watching our service online today, the last three days Messiah has hosted her annual Science Camp. This year we have been studying the science of the human body. We have spent the last week setting up and conducting various experiments to learn more about the human body. We experimented with our tastebuds to see if we could trick them into tasting different flavors if we died apple juice different colors. We tested the different levels of carbon dioxide in our lungs based on how much exercise we performed. We performed a playdough appendectomy and a repaired a broken playdough bone. But my favorite part was the grossest part. I don’t know how she did it and honestly, I am slightly afraid to ask but somehow and from somewhere Mrs. Erica was able to harvest real organs for us to experiment with and Dr. Olson showed us some fascinating and disturbing things about those organs. For example, did you know you can stick a straw into a pair of lungs and inflate them? It’s some freaky Frankenstein kind of stuff but it is true.
After spending the past few days learning about the human body, I can tell you that what I have always suspected to be true is absolutely true and I now know why my then girlfriend now wife continues to look at me like she does. I… AM… ABSOLUTELY… MAGNIFICENT! I mean just look at me! From my frontal lobe to my aortic valve, all the way down to my fibular notch, my body is simply stunning. It is a marvel of engineering and masterpiece of design. Honestly, have you ever seen anything as beautiful as my body!?! The answer is, yes, yes you have. Every time you look in the mirror you behold the beauty of your own body, whether it is fresh with youth or refined by age you, you are magnificent.
I know it sounds arrogant, and in my case partly delusional to say such things, but it’s not. Oh, it would be absolutely arrogant to speak such a way about our bodies if we had anything to do with how they were formed, but we didn’t. We didn’t determine the thickness or texture of our hair, we didn’t choose the color of our eyes, and while we might be able to build them up, we didn’t decide how many and where our muscles should be. God did all of that. God is the engineer of this marvel, God is the designer of this masterpiece, God is the reason your body is so magnificent. King David agrees with me, that is why he proclaims to the LORD in Psalm 139:14, “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”
King David reminds us that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made”. With these words David describes our creation as a dignified and noble event. God did not just slap you together out of a pile of leftover parts. He purposefully and intentionally designed you. He carefully and thoughtfully crafted you. In the verses that proceed and follow verse 14, David describes the process as a “knitting” or a “weaving” together. When I hear this description, I can’t help but think of the double helix. (I put a picture of a double helix on the front of your bulletin covers). The double helix is an elegant structure of two opposing strands of information that are woven together to determine the fabric of every living thing. When I think about God knitting and weaving, I think about Him knitting and weaving my double helix together in order to make me who I am, and I think about Him knitting and weaving your double helix together in order to make you who you are.
King David doesn’t mention the double helix, but in verse 13 he tells us that God knits and weaves together our “inmost being”. Literally, the “inmost being” is a reference to the kidneys and liver. Literally king David is reminding us that God knits and weaves together our guts. Figuratively the “inmost being” is a reference to personality. King David is also reminding us that God knits and weaves together our personalities. That means God has determined how shy or social, grave or giddy, cautious or carefree you might be. Then also in verse 15 king David tells us God knits and weaves together our “frame”. God knits and weaves together the bones and muscles that form our physical appearance. That means God determines the size of your ears, the shape of your nose, and the length of your legs. God also knits and weaves those bones and muscles together to determine our physical abilities. That means God determines the limits of your intellect, the skill of your hands, and the coordination of your feet.
From head to toe, from the inside to the out, you have been fearfully and wonderfully handcrafted by God Himself. I know not everyone believes that. I know there are people who put their faith in an unproven theory that suggests that a billion-year-old sludge somehow contradicted the second law of thermal dynamics, momentarily reversed the rate of entropy in the universe, and magically formed itself into a fish, that became a rodent, that became a monkey, that became you. I know there are people who put their faith in the theory of evolution and deny that we have been fearfully and wonderfully made by God. First and foremost, those people are calling king David a liar and in so doing are calling the God who inspired king David to write these words a liar. Further I am personally offended by those who deny that we have been fearfully and wonderfully made by God and you should be too because to suggest otherwise is to suggest that we are no more than a cosmic coincidence. You are not a cosmic coincidence. You have been purposefully and intentionally hand crafted by God himself; you have been fearfully and wonderfully made.
Through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit king David understood and has declared to us that we have been fearfully and wonderfully made by God. That is why king David confessed and calls upon us to “praise God”.
However, in order for us to give God the kind of praise that king David describes here we must first confess our sins. And since verse 14 has us focused on our bodies, lets confine ourselves for the moment to those sins. Let’s confess how poorly we take care of the bodies that God has fearfully and wonderfully made for us. And don’t just think of the obvious examples like drug abuse, tobacco addiction, or alcoholism. Confess also the sins of gluttonous obesity, lethargic apathy, and negligent nutrition; confess all the ways you have failed to take care of the body that God has fearfully and wonderfully made for you. Then confess the ways you have sinned against the bodies that God has fearfully and wonderfully made for others. Confess how you ogle the bodies of the opposite gender as though God crafted them for your crude and crass desires. Confess the injuries you have inflicted on others with both your words and actions. Confess the disrespectful irreverence you have displayed when you laugh at, mock, or shame a body that God has made differently than your own; confess all the ways you have sinned against the bodies that God has fearfully and wonderfully made for others.
Our praise for God must begin with a confession of sin against the bodies he has fearfully and wonderfully made, but it cannot end there. In order for us to give God the kind of praise that king David describes here, we must also be confident in the forgiveness that comes from our Savior. We must believe the promise that God made through the prophet Isaiah[1]. We must believe that God the Son allowed Himself to be knit and woven together in the womb of a woman; we must believe that the creator allowed Himself to be formed inside of His creation. We must also acknowledge that Jesus perfectly took care of the body that God the Father had fearfully and wonderfully made for Him; Jesus used his body, but He never not abuse it. We must further acknowledge that Jesus so valued the bodies that God had fearfully and wonderfully made for others that He fed them when they were hunger, healed them when they were sick, and delivered them when they were being tortured by demons. We must finally trust that Jesus allowed His body to be beaten bloody, nailed to a cross, and buried in a tomb so that all those sins that we have committed against the bodies that God has fearfully and wonderfully made for us and for others would be forgiven.
Our praise for God must include a confession of sin and a confidence in our savior’s forgiveness, but that is not where our praise concludes. In order for us to give God the kind of praise that king David describes here we are to use these bodies He has fearfully and wonderfully made for us to show our God some gratitude. We do that by first and foremost recognizing His craftsmanship. Sure, our bodies are not what they were designed to be. Sin has left its mark on all of us, we have physical flaws, mental limitations, and emotional deficiencies, but spend a little time studying the science of the human body and you will recognize what an impressive specimen God has created. Secondly, show God some gratitude by taking care of the body He has fearfully and wonderfully made for you; eat a healthy diet, exercise, get enough sleep. Finally, use your body for the purpose for which it was created; use your body in serve others; have a sympathetic ear, give a helping hand, offer spiritual encouragement.
Confess your sins, have confidence in your savior’s forgiveness, and use your body to care for others and you will have given to God the kind of praise king David is talking about.
Having taken the time this week to study the science of the human body my suspicions have been confirmed. From our frontal lobes to our aortic valves, all the way down to our fibular notches, our bodies are simply stunning, marvels of engineering and masterpieces of design. We are absolutely magnificent. That is why along with king David we are able to profess the words of psalm 139:14 as if they were our own. “We praise you [O LORD] because we are fearfully and wonderfully made.” Amen.
[1] Isaiah 7:14 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.