March 1 I Wednesday

Numbers 20-22

Mark 7:1-13

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”   —Jeremiah 1:5

From the opening verse, there is a “before you were born” and “before you were in the womb” existence that God speaks about. There is a pre-birth, preconception in our story. In that part, before we were ever born or conceived, God says, “I knew you and I planned for you.” Whatever the irregularities may be about our own birth, every one of us is an individual created by God—not just one of a massive humanity, but a person.

       Scripture tells us that no matter what our human origin may be, we have an origin that is bigger, deeper and longer than that—it originates in God Himself. David tells us, “My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. 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 139:15-16).

       Although nothing was formed, God saw us, knew us and planned for us. All of our days were written in His book before one of them came to be. Our life is neither an accident nor insignificant. God created us just the way we are, with our weaknesses as well as our strengths, which is why we are to accept our weaknesses as fully as we accept our strengths because God gave them to us. Rather than covering up our weaknesses, running away from them and trying to enhance only those things we feel are our strengths; God said to Jeremiah, “I knew you. I set you apart.” We must embrace our weaknesses and celebrate our dependence on God and others. When we know that we were created by God and conceived in His mind before ever in our mother’s womb, we stop wanting to be different.

       No matter what may characterize our lives and circumstances, some of us tend to have a scale of values that we base people’s significance on. It may be based on what they do, where they live and how much they earn that causes us to say, “this person is more important than that one,” or “this person is less significant than that one.” Some of us probably spend our lives feeling we score poorly when we measure ourselves to others. But we are who we are because we were made and created by God. When we see our significance and value from God’s point of view, we will cease to scale people and begin viewing every human being as valuable in God’s eyes.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank You for knowing me fully before I was born. I marvel at how my life is not insignificant in Your eyes but You care deeply for me as well as for every individual in this world. Praise You!