How are humans wonderfully and fearfully made, Psalm 139:14? We know that each one of us is unique, but is it more than that for we were created in the image of God?
Our Uniqueness
When a sculptor creates something it is always totally unique. Billions of humans have been conceived in the depths of the womb. Yet, each baby arrives in this world with exclusive distinctions.
More than that, God knows each person by name and has an individual plan for that life. Sadly, only the few are prepared to yield their life to their Creator, for wide is the gate that leads to destruction and narrow the gate to eternal life, Matthew 7:13,14.
Intelligent Thought
God gifted humans with the ability for intelligent thought. This includes reasoning, problem solving, the ability to learn and to worship. All crucial factors of human intelligence. It is our creative thinking that allows us to envision new possibilities and drive innovation. We have the ability to reason about virtually any issue.
Man is so innovative he can produce AIs that function many times faster than the human brain. However, AIs can only operate by what has been programmed into them.
Human Limitation
Nevertheless, the human mind does not have the ability to crash suddenly past the familiar into the totally unfamiliar, just AIs can operate only on inputted knowledge. Every great invention man has created, has been built on gleaned knowledge. The Bible explains it as ‘order on order, order on order. Line on line, line on line. A little here, a little more there’, Isaiah 28:13.
When man tries to conceive who God is, we can only use similes from our earthly experience. The prophet Ezekiel tried to explain the throne room of God and was totally lost for words. He found earthly terms so inadequate, Ezekiel 1. ‘Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him,’ 1 Corinthians 2:9.
Unique in Wisdom
The one thing Solomon wanted above all else was wisdom. Wisdom is more precious than jewels and nothing you desire compares with her, Proverbs 3:15.
Man’s wisdom enables him to assess the consequences of his actions both to himself and the effect on others. This is the gift of having a conscience. However, Solomon is a classic example of how far a human can go off the rails and misuse that wisdom. No wonder he eventually wrote, Vanity of vanities! All is vanity, Ecclesiastes 1:1.
We can all look back at the numerous bad or good decisions we made in our life and also consider the result of those decisions. The truly wise ones learn from their experiences in life and glean from what others experience.
Ability to Communicate
God gifted man with the ability to speak and communicate with God and with our fellowman. Not only that we can communicate with heart-felt emotion.
Many animal species experience emotion. We recently sat and watched a pod of two adult whales ardently protect a mother and her newborn calf. They refused to allow the calf to come anywhere near our boat. It was evident there was a bond between these animals. Elephants are known to mourn their dead and consider the bond between a dog and its owner. The list goes on and on.
Yet, it is uniquely human to experience the depths of the emotions of the soul, such as love or hate, fear or peace, joy or sadness. Again, the list goes on and on. Man has been given the ability to communicate emotions to others.
Like Solomon, it is all so easy to misuse God-given gifts. However, Jesus came to save lost souls. To give them the Way back to full communication with their Maker, John 3:16.
Above all, man has been given the ability to worship the God, the Great I Am that I Am, Exodus 3:14. Man was created to enter into a covenantal relationship with God, which is totally unique to man. Not even the angels have a covenant with their Creator.
Free Will
God gave both angels and man a free will, with the ability to accept or reject an eternal relationship with God. We are free to accept the promise of eternal life or suffer eternal separation from God.
God is sovereign, but through His attributes of love, grace, mercy, and justice He never violates the free will of man. Jonah made up his mind he was not going to do what God asked of him. God did not stop Jonah from getting on the boat and sailing in the opposite direction, but Jonah wore the consequences of his actions. Eventually Jonah relented and did what God asked of him, but instead of rejoicing, the story of Jonah ends with the reluctant servant sulking under a gourd.
God desires above all else, that the created will willingly enter into a personal relationship with Him. The blessings and joy of such a relationship are incomprehensible, for there is no end to it, Romans 11:33-36.
God Provided Our Redemption
God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are three, yet One and all are totally God. Yet, God sent His Son to die on a cruel wooden cross. Imagine if the Son had refused to obey the will of the Father. As a man Jesus had a free will, the same as we do. The path chosen for Him was one so horrendous we cannot truly comprehend it. He who knew no sin, became sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God, 2 Corinthians 5:21.
At Calvary God’s wrath was poured out upon God who hung on the cross, the cruelest death that man can inflict on man. Jesus paid the price for man’s disobedience in the Garden of Eden and only His shed blood can cleanse us from sin, Isaiah 1:18. His death and resurrection gave man a unique hope. From before time began, God had a plan to redeem fallen man, Genesis 3:15, Revelation 13:8. This alone makes man unique above all other creation.
Everyone is Unique
Despite billions of people who have lived on this tiny planet we call earth, each one of is fearfully and wonderfully and uniquely made. We are not churned out like robots off a factory production line. This alone should make us stop and wonder at the awesomeness and wonder of the Creator.
Only humans can enter into an eternal relationship with their Creator, who rejoices over them with singing. In the Hebrew this means that God violently rejoices over us, Zephaniah 3:17. This is not some wishy-washy, arms-length relationship, but one of intimacy and great love. Take the excitement of thousands of fans cheering at a football match and multiply that by a thousand times thousands. You still wouldn’t be anywhere near God’s exultation over one sinner who repents, Luke 15:7.
Wonderfully and Fearfully Made
In the Hebrew, to be fearfully and wonderfully made has the meaning of having been made with great reverence and heart-felt interest. You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. A people for God’s own possession, 1Peter 2:9.
We need to come to our Heavenly Father with great rejoicing and heart-felt emotion for He has wonderfully and fearfully made us in His image. Angelic beings will cry ‘Holy, holy, holy’ but they have not been redeemed. The angels who rebelled against God and followed Lucifer, will be eternally separated from God. Only redeemed humanity will be able to worship the Creator with overwhelming joy and wonder. ‘I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are Your works and that my soul knows it very well, Psalm 139:14.
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