Can you think of a time when you felt most like yourself? A time when your personality and strengths weren’t filtered or watered down, and you felt free to just be who God made you to be.
For many of us, the last time we truly felt like that may have been when we were little kids playing in the yard, or maybe in school, hitting our sweet spot on a sports team, in choir, or drama club. Maybe you haven’t experienced that personally, but you know someone who seems so confident in who God made them to be that you wish you could be more like that.
When God created each of us, He painstakingly crafted everything about us. Our personality, our laugh, our strengths and the quirky things that make us different. But as we grow and endure the hardships of life, it can be easy to forget or to second guess if God got it right in the first place when He made us. So often we can fall into a habit of doubting or downplaying our worth, and second guessing who we are, and who God has created us to be.
Sometimes, we subconsciously shift who we are to fit into our surroundings, or shrink back from who God has created us to be because of the influence of others, whether on social media, or relationships we have in real life. We might doubt the gifts God has given us, and feel afraid to step out in faith to serve God and bless others with our gifts. And other times, we doubt our true worth, unsure if God really loves us like He says, or if He would keep loving us, if He knew us like we know ourselves.
At the root of all this, is a lie Satan has been whispering to us from the beginning. When God created Adam and Eve, He said His creation was “very good”. But when Satan tempted Eve to disobey God and eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he attacked her value as God’s creation. He told her that she will be more like God if she eats the fruit, implying that she is not already created in His image. The underlying message was that Eve was not enough as God had created her, that she needed to do more, and be more. The voice of the enemy deceived Eve into doubting God and herself.
As followers of Jesus, we need to allow God’s voice to drown out the lies of the enemy. It is important for us to tune our hearts and minds to hear the truth of what God says about us, and Psalm 139 is a perfect reminder of exactly that.
You may have read Psalm 139 before, but there are a few things that I want to lean into today.
In verses 1-4, the Psalmist says, “You have searched me, Lord, and you know me.You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely…”
I love that! God is familiar with all my ways. He knows my habits, my thoughts, my weaknesses and my strengths. He even knows what I’m going to say before I say it, and loves me anyway!
I used to worry that if God knew all everything about me, He would see the messes in my heart and in my life and that would diminish His love for me. It was always so much easier to see only my mistakes, rather than the good ways that God created me. But as I grew to know God more, and see His heart for me in Scripture, I realized that Psalm 139 is a psalm of praise to God, but also one of great reassurance to us!
In verses 13-14, 17-18, we read, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well…How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me!”
God knows us as we truly are, and cherishes us because we are His children. He created us, knows us, and loves us more than we can imagine. If God knows us and loves us and calls His creation “very good”, then who are we to say otherwise? He alone has the final say on our worth.
Whether we are going about our day or lying down to go to sleep, when God looks at us, He thinks good things about us! Like a parent looking at their sleeping child, He thinks about us and all that He created us to be, all the plans that He has for us, and He delights in being with us. And in the morning, He is still there when we wake up. Even if we weren’t at our best that day, there’s nothing that will scare Him off, or make Him love us less. We are not “too much” for Him.
God loves us so much that He sent His Son Jesus to die for our sins, and take away our shame. He has set us free from being slaves to sin and covered us with His grace. Because of this, and through faith, we can approach God with freedom and confidence. (Ephesians 3:12) We are defined by His love for us, not our worst mistakes.
When we allow that truth to settle in our hearts, we begin to see how He has created us through a different lens. Suddenly our personality, our strengths, even some of our quirks can be used to steward God’s grace in the world around us. When we know how much God loves us, and that He created us uniquely for a purpose, we are free to be ourselves. We are free to step out boldly and use our gifts to bless others and help build God’s Kingdom.
We begin to love God and others without restraint. We are free from striving, performing, and perfectionism. We don’t have to compare ourselves to others or keep up with the status quo, because in God you are enough. He knew the world needed one of you!
So dear friend, you don’t need to be someone else. God chose you to be in the world right here and now. The person He made you to be is exactly who he can use to bless others and grow his Kingdom.
Ultimately it all comes down to trusting that God is enough, that what He says about us is enough, and that in Him, we are enough. God loves us and His approval is all we need.
If you’re struggling to love who God made you to be, I want to invite you to write down some things that you are good at, or things that come naturally for you. Keep a list of times you felt you did something well, or that God used you to encourage or help someone else. When we acknowledge our strengths and talents as gifts from God, and give HIm the credit and glory, we are not boasting in ourselves, but in Him. We are so quick to remember our failings, but it’s important to remember there’s so much good about us too!
You can also write out scripture as a reminder of truth, and post it somewhere you’ll see it often. The truth of God’s word says you are chosen, beloved, a daughter of God, set apart for good works planned in advance for you to do, you have purpose and a heavenly Father who loves you unconditionally, and forever.
My prayer for you today is from Deuteronomy 33:12: “Let the beloved of the Lord rest secure in him, for he shields him all day long, and the one the Lord loves rests between his shoulders.”
In Christ, we are free to be our true selves, no filters, no holding back. When we are living in the truth of who God says we are, we can rest securely in His love. We can live free from doubt and worry and trust that the One who lovingly created us is carrying us still. I pray that today you would experience the peace of knowing that you are truly loved for who you are, and live securely in your identity as God’s beloved. You are beautifully and wonderfully made. Rest on God’s shoulders, knowing that you are exactly where you belong, for you are His beloved daughter!
