Perfection

(All scripture references NIV unless otherwise noted)

I have never been one to watch many of those nature shows on television.  However, I do recall many years ago seeing one that really amazed me.  It showed the connection of numerous animals and plants out in a jungle area, and their total dependence on one another – all the way down to some very tiny organism in the water.  I can still remember how I thought at the time about how amazing our world is and how God did not miss any little detail to make everything function to its optimum.

I was recently reminded about that and the idea was reinforced when I again was reading in Exodus where God is giving Moses directions on how to construct the tabernacle; and, how to make the special garments for the priests that would be ministering there.  To be honest, it has been easy for me in the past to skim over these chapters thinking it was repetitious and somewhat boring.  But I finally recognized that if I would slow down and read it more thoughtfully, it is rather eye-opening.  The details are truly fascinating.  Nothing is too small or unimportant to God as He lays out these plans.  (There were even special directions for the tent pegs!)  No expense is spared either as they are instructed to use a lot of gold, silver and precious stones.  In Exodus 25:9 Moses is instructed “’Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings EXACTLY like the pattern I will show you.’”  It was apparently important to God that they did not cut any corners or make any compromises – he wanted it to be exact!  (Check out Exodus chapters 25-40 to see for yourself.)

Now just compare God’s meticulous creation of this world and all of nature, to the detailed exact instructions for the temple and then finally to humans.  As God’s most important creation, humans are no less meticulously made – no less detailed and no less exact. 

This all then brought me to this very familiar scripture in Psalm 139:14a “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made…”  But, I really do love the way The Message translation states Psalm 139:13-16:  “Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother’s womb.  I thank you, High God – you’re breathtaking!  Body and soul, I am marvelously made!  I worship in adoration – what a creation!  You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something.  Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life all prepared before I’d even lived one day.”

The temple in Exodus is described as God’s dwelling place at that time, today because of Jesus we are now God’s dwelling place.  Jesus said in John 14:20b “’…I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.’”  And, in verse 23 Jesus continues with “’…If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching.  My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.’”  In Ephesians 2 Paul is speaking to the Gentiles and explains that Christ Jesus has united the Jews and Gentiles so that all can have access to God.  He says that Jesus is the cornerstone of “God’s household” (19b) and goes on to say in 21 & 22 “In Him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.  And in Him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit.” 

Really consider the wonder of our physical bodies – the finely tuned details of how everything works together in perfection that we might live and function as we do.  It is beyond me to understand #1 how anyone could ever believe that at some point there was some big bang and suddenly human beings, as intricately as we are made, could have just evolved.  And #2 how anyone could ever consider a newly conceived human being nothing more than a useless blob of tissue that can just be aborted for their convenience and discarded like a piece of garbage.  How God must weep at the many millions of lost souls tossed away in such a manner!

In Athens, Paul is speaking and says in Acts 17:24-28 “’The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands.  And He is not served by human hands, as if He needed anything, because He Himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.  From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.  God did this so that men would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.  For in Him we live and move and have our being.  As some of your own poets have said ‘We are His offspring.’”  

Daily we need to consider our value – our importance to our Father to others and even to ourselves.  We need to appreciate our place in this world and strive to take care of every detail of our lives; and, our value in Him should trigger us to reach out to Him, because we most certainly are fearfully and wonderfully made!

Written by Karran Martin

January 27, 2019