What do you think of when you hear or see the word “handcrafted?” Something made by someone’s hands? The verb “handcraft” doesn’t just mean to make something by hand, but also to make it skillfully.
What about the word “wonderfully?” The biblical Hebrew word translated “wonderfully†is “palah,” and it means “to be distinct†or “to be distinguished‗set apart for a certain purpose.
Can you think of anything that fits both of those definitions? To be made by hand and to be distinct and distinguished?
I can. And it’s what’s holding this device right now. It’s what’s reading these words. It’s what just exhaled, sending a soft breath of air over the screen. It’s you.
You are handcrafted. God created you with His hands; He formed you (Psalm 119:73). Think about how God created the first person in Genesis 2:7, “then the Lord God formed a man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.†And then God formed the second person, a woman, from one of the man’s ribs. After blessing them both, “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good†(Genesis 1:31).
God formed you too. Psalm 139:13-14 says, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully [palah] made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.â€
God handmade you in His good image to be distinct and distinguished! But because our world has been broken by sin, all of us have been marred by sin. That’s why God sent His Son. Jesus gave Himself up for us so that He could cleanse us from all our sin and present us totally blameless to God (Ephesians 5:25b-27).
So marvel in those facts today! You are personally and skillfully handcrafted by God. And if you’ve put your trust in Jesus, God finds you pleasing and good! • Natalie Gilkinson
• How does knowing that you are skillfully and personally created by God make you feel?
• Have you ever sensed God’s pleasure as He beholds the way He made you? You can ask Him to reveal this to you anytime.
• Do you ever find yourself trying to earn God’s approval? How might it change the way you live to know that only Jesus can make us pleasing to God (Romans 3:22-26; 1 Corinthians 1:30)?
Your hands made me and formed me. Psalm 119:73a (NIV)
Read Verses:
Psalm 46:1-3; Malachi 3:6; John 14:1-7; James 1:17
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