I like the phrase, “and that my soul knoweth right well.” It’s old English but very clearly gives the awareness that the psalmist’ praise is directly related to the confidence He has in God and His creation.
Identity is defined as the fact of being who or what a person is. Proverbs tells us as a man thinks in his heart so is he. Identity can be a huge issue for all of us through life. Not only before Christ, but in Christ, with the desire to find your creation in God which is primary to knowing and understanding who you have been created to be. Ephesians 2:10 reminds us that we are his workmanship, created in Christ, ordained for good works. Every human being is God’s creation, fearfully and wonderfully made, but secure identity rests in your soul knowing that right well.
Life is by nature a state of flux. Learning to adapt is paramount to keeping identity intact. Who you are never changes, but what you do is reshaped time and again.
Identity crisis’ occur when change comes into our lives and shifts our natural reality. Since the Father is the one who goes before us, perfecting the things that concern us, and Jesus said, “Let not your heart be troubled.... I go to prepare a place for you”, should we not believe that when the change comes, He knows exactly what we have been created to do in that season and the place we find ourselves simply changes what we do, not who we are.
While God put Adam in the garden to tend and keep it, his purpose flowed from the relationship He had with the Father, son and Holy Spirit. He was first, made in their image, then set in the garden.
As David and I began our married life in 1972, I went from being Jeanne Weber to Jeanne McGrew. New name, new family, new expectations. Yet in life, I began my journey as woman, His creation, fearfully and wonderfully made. ‘Wife’ gave me a role with responsibilities. ‘Mother’ does the same, but when either one of these change, our identity is challenged. . The year 1975 took us from sinners to saints and more changes. We had to learn who this new Father was and what He said about us as His children. It took great humility and determination to agree with Him in the face of natural appearing circumstances, but we chose to believe and adapt. We went from saints to understanding grace and accepted the work He had created us for which ultimately led us to Canada in 1981 with a whole new season of opportunities for change.
Through every stage of growth, choices are required to follow the purpose of God and each time they require something new and different out of us. Each one of these moments can be met with fear and anxiety, but when they drive you back to your foundations in God and you hold to Him, you are able to move through with identity intact and purpose embraced. Without this, you do move away from the opportunity and in doing so, you separate yourself from your Father, Jesus the word that is given to you for life and the Holy Spirit who has imparted the grace which enables you to do.
Believing we are His workmanship, fearfully and wonderfully made, is the beginning of carrying a sense of value and right identity. Learning to know the Father, as one who loves us endlessly and purposefully, frees us from the place of rejection.
Rooted and grounded in Him gives us the ability to give thanks, knowing right well we are fearfully and wonderfully made: Wonderful are thy works.