Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
It isn’t hard to marvel at all the goodness the Lord has created. A baby’s yawn? The grace of a horse in a gallop? The impossible idea of infinity? C’mon y’all, you know what I mean? Creation is God’s palette and He is a flat-out Master Artist/ Technician/ Inventor/ Designer. What an imagination!
In Bible study, at our new church, we’ve studied Genesis 1-2 where God creates systems so that His creation can sustain itself and reproduce itself. For example:
Early in Creation, God made the Sun which makes the Earth habitable due to the warmth it creates and the light it produces.
The Sun’s light makes photosynthesis possible so that plants can create food for themselves and serve as food for animals, which allows man to enjoy both plants and meat.
The Sun’s relative relationship to Earth creates the seasons — when our hemisphere tilts toward the Sun, we have Summer. Fall comes in the transition period as the Earth begins to tilt away from the Sun (and vice versa for Spring), which moves the hemisphere into Winter.
The changing seasons allow fields to produce and to rest, as ordained by sunshine and help us to mark time.
I praise you,
for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
God’s works are amazing! Have you ever thought about the way a baby forms? From one cell grows a living, breathing, cooing, laughing baby.
Check out these fetal development descriptions:
- Four weeks — a poppy seed
- Five weeks — a sesame seed “tadpole” with a tiny heart beat
- Six weeks — a lentil with the beginnings of nose, mouth, ears, intestines, brain
- 7 weeks — a blueberry with little arms and legs and early signs of hands and feet
- 8 weeks — a kidney bean with start-up lungs
- 9 weeks — a grape…earlobes are forming!
- 10 weeks — a kumquat with arms and legs that bend and finger/toe nails!
- 11 weeks — a fig that can get the hiccups
- 12 weeks — a lime that can open and close fingers and toes
- 13 weeks — a pea pod with fingerprints
- 14 weeks — a lemon that can suck his thumb
- 15 weeks — an apple, responds to light
- 16 weeks —an avocado whose kicks can be felt
- 17 weeks — a turnip whose skeleton is starting to harden into bone
- 18 weeks — a bell pepper that is beginning to move around more
- 19 weeks — an heirloom tomato with senses (taste, smell, vision, touch, hearing); your baby can hear you sing to her
- 20 weeks — a banana that can swallow
- 21 weeks — a carrot whose movements begin to show a pattern
- 22 weeks — a spaghetti squash that really looks like a newborn!
- 23 weeks — a large mango who can recognize familiar sounds
- 24 weeks — an ear of corn
- 25 weeks — a rutabaga with the beginnings of hair
- 26 weeks — a bunch of scallions that is practicing breathing movements
- 27 weeks — a head of cauliflower that sleeps and wakes and an active brain
- 28 weeks — a large eggplant with eyes that blink and have eyelashes
- 29 weeks — a butternut squash
- 30 weeks — a large cabbage
- 31 weeks — a coconut that can turn his head from side to side
- 32 weeks — a large jicama
- 33 weeks — a pineapple
- 34 weeks — a cantaloupe
- 35 weeks — a honeydew melon, kidneys fully developed
- 36 weeks — a head of romaine lettuce
- 37 weeks — a bunch of swiss chard
- 38 weeks — a leek
- 39 weeks — a mini-watermelon
- 40 weeks — a small pumpkin…and your little person!
All this, from babycenter.com (and follow this link to see amazing pictures!)
On days when I’m feeling small and insignificant, I need to remember that God went to a lot of trouble to make me. God, Who is good, created me in His image. I am His masterpiece and He has plans for my life…I am part of His plans for the world (Ephesians 2:10).
And though I live in a fallen world and am prone to sin and wandering away from God, Jesus died so I can be free from sin (Romans 6:18). And even though I am a stone-cold mess most of the time, because of the sinless sacrifice of Jesus (and against all odds) I’m good (2 Corinthians 5:21). I need to remember that God went to a lot of trouble to save me and make me good.
Because I know Jesus has promised me eternal life with Him, no matter what happens today, y’all, I’m good (1 John 2:25).
Truth: sometimes I struggle with anxiety. I worry about what God has planned for me in this life. When is the next hard thing going to come? I know God wants to mature me, spiritually, so is God’s plan for me to have more pain and difficulties? Will I be able to handle it? Here’s where I just need to remember that because He’s good, I’m good. I’ve seen this to be true: whatever happens, when life falls apart…it’s good, I’m good, because I’m not alone (Matthew 28:20).
How about you? Are you good?
Image Copyright: photopiano / 123RF Stock Photo; ngaga35 / 123RF Stock Photo
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