Trusting God for Who You Are

Rick’s Physical Prowess

Psalm 139:13 ESV

For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.

Psalm 139:16 ESV

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:

People struggle with all sorts of issues whether it be physical looks, attributes, etc.

God made me who I am.

teaches we are who we are because God created us this way not because of some sort of happenstance in a genetic code.

When David said, “you knitted me together in my mother’s womb,” he is looking at God as a master creator putting him together the same way he did Adam from the dust of the earth.

We all know the process of how we came to be, but David was recognizing the fact that God is intricately involved in this process of who we will be.

The first part of verse 13 says, “For you created my inmost being.” Hebrew word for inmost being means the same as kidneys. This was where they felt our longings and desires came from. When David is using this phrase in the passage, he’s saying God created his personality. David is saying God was responsible for his physical, mental, and emotional state of being or mind.

Rev. James Hufstetler said, “You are the result of the attentive, careful, thoughtful, intimate, detailed, creative work of God. Your personality, your sex, your height, your features, are what they are because God made them precisely that way. He made you the way he did because that is the way he wanted you to be....If God had wanted you to be basically and creatively different he would have made you differently. Your genes and chromosomes and creaturely distinctives - even the shape of your nose and ears - are what they are by God’s design.

Job 10:8–11 ESV

Your hands fashioned and made me, and now you have destroyed me altogether. Remember that you have made me like clay; and will you return me to the dust? Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese? You clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews.

Job 10:

This passage speaks to God’s direct involvement in our creation. Other verses which speak of this involvement.

psalm 119:

Psalm 119:73 ESV

Your hands have made and fashioned me; give me understanding that I may learn your commandments.

Jeremiah 1:5 ESV

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

If I have difficulty with how I appear, then my conflict is with God.

We need to change our way of thought. We need to start accepting ourselves for who we are and the fact that God created us to be who we are physically, emotionally, and emotionally.

Psalm 139:4 ESV

Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.

Psalm 139:14 ESV

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.

David says this. Now if you read in 1 Samuel, you’ll know that David was a very handsome young man, was very smart, and had a lot going for him. So your response to David may be, “Yeah, that’s fine and good for you to say. LOOK AT YOU!!”

Isaiah 53:2 ESV

For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.

isaiah

Who is this scripture talking about?

Jesus

If we were to have run into Jesus on the street, we wouldn’t have noticed anything about him that would have made him standout. Our picture of Christ that we have made is so not true.

David’s intent on praising God wasn’t because he looked so good, it was because God made him. We need to dwell on that thought more than anthing else. When we are down on ourselves because of how we look or something we aren’t able to do because of some sort of weakness, we need to remember He made us the way we are.

This should be a foundation for self-acceptance.

We are who we are because our God made us this way. He sovereignly and directly made us.

What about those who have physical or other forms of disabilities?

God is involved with this as well. When Moses was complaining about how he couldn’t speak in front of people God tells him,

Exodus 4:11 ESV

Then the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?

This isn’t an easy thing to accept when you have loved ones who have these things. But, even in this, God can use the disability for His glory. When the disciples asked Jesus why a certain man was born blind, his response was

John 3:9 ESV

Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?”

John 9:3 ESV

Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.

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Why should this blind man suffer blindness all those years merely to be available to display God’s work on a certain day? Is God’s glory worth a man’s being born blind? These are hard questions for those who have loved ones who suffer.

The path to self-acceptance is learning to trust God for who I am.

We must always focus on the God who made us is also the God who is wise enough to know what is best for us and He loves us enough to make it happen.

We will struggle with our weaknesses, as we see them. They are always with us, but we need to learn to trust God continually in these areas of our lives.

Hufstetler also was quoted saying, “You will never really enjoy other people, you will never have stable emotions, you will never lead a life of godly contentment, you will never conquer jealousy and love other as you should until you thank God for make you the way he did.

We need to be thankful for the positive abilities and traits He has blessed us with.

Whether it is an ability or disability, we need to learn to accept them from God and give Him thanks and learn to seek His glory through it.

Trusting God For What I Am

God had a reason for creating each one of us the way He did.

Psalm 139:16 ESV

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.

Two possible meanings for this passage

That God had set the number of days for David to live. This is the one we typically look at. This is a truth also seen in

Job 14:5 ESV

Since his days are determined, and the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass,

job

Our time on earth is in His hands.

2. That all the experiences David would have in his life, God had already written them down in His book before David was even born. This meaning fits better with the verses 13-15. God equipped us with the abilities or disabilities we each have to fulfil the purpose He created us for.

God’s plan for us is more than what happens to us. He created us to accomplish certain things. He gifted us with talents and spiritual gifts to fulfil a certain task or role within the body of the church.

God had planted these gifts in us when we were born. They aren’t something that surfaces when we accept Christ. They have been there all along.

When looking at , we have to look at them as a whole. Who you are is not a biological accident. What you

are is not a circumstantial accident. God planned both for you.

We must also trust God for what we are.

God has different things in mind for each one of us.

My journey.

God has a purpose for each one of us no matter what it is we do. He has placed us in the very job or profession where He could use us. That should give the most boring job meaning and excitement for you to be there.

Colossians 3:23 ESV

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,

Colossians

We are to work at whatever it is we are doing as if God was standing there beside of us. Our work ethic should be different than those who work with us who don’t know God. They must see a difference in the way we approach work and our job.

Each day we are here is a day ordained by God.

This should give us an excitement about how we approach our day.

One of my tasks I’m going to be looking forward to doing is some plumbing work at the house.

We shouldn’t approach life with a fatalistic approach like things don’t matter since God has ordained it all. Paul told the slaves in that if they had the ability to gain their freedom, they should.

There has to be a delicate balance between godly efforts to improve our situation and godly acceptance of those situations that cannot be changed by us.

There are circumstances and things in our lives that will never change, no matter how much work or prayers are lifted up. In these times we need to look to what God shared with the captives in Babylon through Jeremiah.

Jeremiah

Jeremiah 29:11 ESV

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

All the things we go through, all the adversities we face, all the disabilities which we may have or will get one day are all ultimately for our good and for His glory. We must walk by faith. If we believe scripture to be true, then we have to believe it all and not just part. Walk by faith and claim these verses.

Trusting God for Guidance

Can I trust God to guide me in His plan? What if I make a mistake along the way?

psalm

Psalm 23:2–3 ESV

He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

The image of the shepherd leading his sheep and taking care of them to make sure they are safe, they eat, and they have water to drink.

God takes an active part in trying to guide us and lead us to where He needs us. The book of Acts, other than one instance, is God leading his people to where they needed to be to accomplish the tasks He had for them to do.

God has a plan for each of us to do. He has given us each different abilities and talents to accomplish those things.

We do have the responsibility to make wise decisions, however, God’s plan for us isn’t contingent on those decisions. He will accomplish His purpose for our lives in spite of what we do. I just think it would be easier to make the wise decisions so we don’t have to go through for God to get us where He needs us. God in his sovereignty will get us there.

His guidance is step by step most of the time, not leap, leap, step.

Thy word

All the way