“I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well” (Ps. 139:14).

At some point in life, we start asking the big questions. Where do I come from? Where am I going? Why am I here? Psalm 139 helps answer all of these. But they all come back to one big question: Who am I? We only understand ourselves when we understand our place in relation to God.

I Am A Wonder Therefore I Am A Worshiper

When David declares, “Wonderful are your works” (Psalms 139:14), we remember all the miracle stories, like the flood, the exodus, and feeding the multitudes. It also calls to mind this wild, wonderful world he created — in an act of incredible power — and continues to sustain. God’s creation leaves us in awe, from the slow-moving tree sloth to the blur of hummingbird wings, from the vast, distant Alcyoneus galaxy to the strange, little tardigrade.

It’s not self-exaltation; he’s exalting God for his extraordinary work in creating him.

But we are the “wonderful … work” at the center of this psalm! Just look at the statements before and afterward. First he says, “I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made” which leads right into, “Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret” (Ps. 139:14–15). It’s not self-exaltation; he’s exalting God for his extraordinary work in creating him.

So we understand how “wonderfully” he made us, but what does it mean that we’re “fearfully” made (Ps. 139:14–15)? God was afraid? That’s not quite the point. But have you ever worked on something so important that you took each step cautiously, wanting it to be crafted just right? God made you with that kind of care.

You are important to God.

This psalm highlights how distinct you are — as a human — from all the rest of his works.

• It shows how your personhood began before you were born, just as David has a continuity of identity from his “unformed” days until he wrote this psalm (Ps. 139:13-16). God loved him and knew him from the beginning. Your DNA was “knit” by God. Your body, your mind, all your gifts, and your unique way of being in the world is
• And among all creation, you have a unique purpose. God created you to rule (Gen. 1:28-29) and work with him (1 Cor. 3:9) — to bear his image (Gen. 1:27) and reflect his glory (Rom. 3:23; 2 Cor. 3:18).
• To accomplish this, he gave us extraordinary potential unlike anything else in this world.

These truths should shape the way you view yourself. You are important to God. But it should also shape how you view every other human. They, too, have that God-given purpose, potential, and personhood. So remember to treat them like “people who are made in the likeness of God” (James 3:9).

I Am Known Therefore I Am Not Alone

The theme of this psalm centers around being “known,” from the Hewbrew word yadah used seven times in Psalm 139:

• “you have searched me and known me!” (Ps. 139:1)
• “you know when I sit” (2)
• “before a word is on my tongue … you know” (Ps. 139:4)
• “know my heart … know my thoughts” (Ps. 139:23)
• “I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well” (Ps. 139:14)

Ever feel misunderstood? At some point in our lives (especially as teenagers), many of us feel like “nobody gets me!” But God gets you. He knows you better than you know yourself! And knowing you, he loves you.

Tim Keller put it well: “To be loved but not known is comforting but superficial. To be known and not loved is our greatest fear. But to be fully known and truly loved… is what we need more than anything. It liberates us from pretense, humbles us out of our self-righteousness, and fortifies us for any difficulty life can throw at us.”

The reckoning of God is constant, but so are his infinite, loving thoughts about us.

Because God knows David, he feels he is never alone. The first stanza emphasizes God’s infinite knowledge (Ps. 139:1-6), and the second (Ps. 139:7-12) emphasizes his constant presence. For David, it’s not an abstract treatise on divine attributes like omnipresence,  omniscience, and omnipotence. As Coote says, “The God of Psalm 139 is not omni-this or that. The tone of such terms is wrong.” His knowledge of us is personal. His presence is intimate. His power lets us think this thought and breathe this breath.

The reckoning of God is constant, but so are his infinite, loving thoughts about us (Ps. 139:16-18). Paul later reflects on this theme, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? … neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:35–39).

To be fully known can be reassuring, but it can also be terrifying. He discerns “the thoughts and intentions of the heart … all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Heb. 4:12-13). David knows that God’s moral perfection leaves no room for darkness. In the psalm’s final verses, he expresses his loyalty to the Lord by standing against all those who hate God (Ps. 139:21-22). Then he closes with a penetrating prayer for God to purify and direct him in the right way: “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Ps 139:23-24).