God Made You Good: Embracing God's Sovereignty, Knowing Your Worth
There is a recurring theme we see in Scripture when it comes to God and his creation. While there are plenty of soft, happy, bubbly truths throughout the Bible, what I actually want to open with might come off as a little bit harder. It’s the reality that when God discusses what he has made, we see a strong and overwhelming authority asserted.
While words like strength and authority don’t always have the warmest connotations, embracing God as The Supreme Creator may actually be one of the most joy-inducing, life-changing realities you ever encounter.
Before we dive into why, let’s talk about what. What does the Bible say regarding this topic? There are a few areas we could explore (like Psalm 104 or Jeremiah 18), but the place I’d really love for us to spend some time is in Job 38.
There’s a stunning account of the Lord speaking in Job 38. As you recall Job’s story, you may remember that he was a godly man who endured heinous trials. If there were ever a person we might expect to question the Lord’s plans, it’s this guy. As Job questions, he is rightly humbled with a reminder of God’s mighty role as Creator of the Universe. Read below for a snippet of the Lord’s response:
“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.
Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?
On what were its footings set,
or who laid its cornerstone—
while the morning stars sang together
and all the angels shouted for joy?“Who shut up the sea behind doors
when it burst forth from the womb,
when I made the clouds its garment
and wrapped it in thick darkness,
when I fixed limits for it
and set its doors and bars in place,
when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther;
here is where your proud waves halt’?” Job 38:4-11
It might surprise you to hear that this rather firm passage of Scripture has provided one of the most tender moments I’ve ever encountered of God in his Word. Because you know what? God is willing to assert himself as the masterful creator, which brings us to another key truth:
God didn’t just form the world we inhabit. God made us too.
Is it our right to question what God has made? Or even further—to call what he has made bad? We may not do this overtly, but when we hide, suppress, or bury the nature of who God has made us to be, we are actually hiding, suppressing, and burying a unique reflection of God. We were each made in his image.
This passage from Job really hit me. I hope it hits you too with the loving conviction that God is your creator.
We have a tendency sometimes, as people, or as Christians, to act like embracing ourselves as good is an act of pride. It’s an upside down interpretation of the truth laid out in Scripture.
Here’s the truth we see in the Bible: God made his people and said they were very good—inherently valuable. Sin is like an infection—poisoning a healthy body. But because of God’s love for us, he sent Jesus. Christ removes our infirmities by paying our death penalty on the cross, and God sanctifies and restores us to the good creation he intended us to be. We encounter some of that good, healing work on this side of eternity. And we will ultimately experience it in heaven, where all is restored. When we are living in the light of faith, we are able to shine as God’s creations—being restored daily to our original glory, even as our bodies endure the sin of the world. (2 Corinthians 4:16)
Here’s the falsehood that we (often unwittingly) embrace: We are awful sinners. We try to do good, but we keep screwing up. Embracing Jesus means counting ourselves as bad or as lacking in worth. We are to live lowly existences. That’s what it means to be a good Christian.
While Christ exhibited a lowliness that we would be good to emulate, it’s crucial to have a right understanding of lowliness. Humility doesn’t mean we count ourselves as worthless—humility is embracing ourselves rightly in view of God’s magnitude. Humility is placing ourselves under true authority and living the lives we were purposed for. To believe that we are worthless is a lie. To believe that we are created by a loving and intentional God, who has scripted us with purpose, is the truth.
The idea that we are created intentionally by God is outlined beautifully in Psalm 139. One verse stands out:
Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be. Psalm 139:16
Read how C.H. Spurgeon commented on this verse:
An architect draws his plans, and makes out his specifications; even so did the great Maker of our frame write down all our members in the book of his purposes. That we have eyes, and ears, and hands, and feet, is all due to the wise and gracious purpose of heaven: it was so ordered in the secret decree by which all things are as they are. God's purposes concern our limbs and faculties. Their form, and shape, and everything about them were appointed of God long before they had any existence. God saw us when we could not be seen, and he wrote about us when there was nothing of us to write about. When as yet there were none of our members in existence, all those members were before the eye of God in the sketch-book of his foreknowledge and predestination.
The idea is that before we were even created, God had a blueprint in mind.
He not only crafted you limb-by-limb, but in the original context and culture of this piece from Psalm 139, that phrase inmost being was often used to refer to your innermost longings and desires. Kind of like how we refer to our gut today.
Here’s what C.H. Spurgeon said about Psalm 139:13:
Thou art the owner of my inmost parts and passions: not the indweller and observer only, but the acknowledged lord and possessor of my most secret self. The word "reins" signifies the kidneys, which by the Hebrews were supposed to be the seat of the desires and longings; but perhaps it indicates here the most hidden and vital portion of the man; this God doth not only inspect, and visit, but it is his own; he is as much at home there as a landlord on his own estate, or a proprietor in his own house.
He knew what he was going to make us to be. To seal this truth in, let’s do a little activity. Just for fun, insert your name into the following sentences.
God knew exactly how he wanted to create _________.
God envisioned _________ before he set to work on creating him/her.
_________ was made with purpose and intention.
That was maybe a little bit cheesy, but so good and so true. Part of growing in our faith and embracing truth, is embracing that God made us with purpose and that we are his good creations.
Are you quiet and thoughtful? Are you outgoing and vivacious? Is your mind analytical and structured? Are you a free-flowing creative thinker? Are you drawn to warm colors or cool colors? Would you spend your ideal Saturday morning in or out of the house? Do you exude kindness? Are you fiercely committed to justice?
While we all seek to employ godly attributes and righteous living, the manners in which God displays his splendor in each of us varies widely. Perhaps this is why the Apostle Paul was so passionate about Christian freedom in the book of Galatians. When we submit ourselves to legalistic (man-made) rules and regulations, we may be stifling the unique glory God seeks to display in each of us.
It’s okay if you and your friend are drawn to serve in different areas and in different capacities. It’s okay if you and your neighbor enjoy different kinds of books and podcasts. It’s okay if you would rather run a 5k on thanksgiving instead of lounge around in your sweatpants! (Okay… that one might actually be a little crazy… JK.)
You get the idea. It could be deep or shallow matters. The point is that God made you to be you.
I hope that as you embrace this truth today, you feel encouraged in love to walk in the light. I hope you’re able to embrace who you are as God’s beloved child and not be ridden with false shame when your personhood differs from those around you. I’ll end with a portion of this verse from Isaiah:
…They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the Lord
for the display of his splendor. Isaiah 61:3
As a child of God, you were made to be a unique display the Lord’s splendor.
With faith in our Savior Jesus, as you step into the restoration and sanctification of the Holy Spirit, may you embrace your own created self as good.
God made you good.
