Abba's Dearly Beloved

“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”

Psalm 139:14 (NIV)

Imagine before you a puzzle piece, it’s intricate shape uniquely cut and patterned so that it is unlike any other piece. Each puzzle piece must be distinctive for a jigsaw puzzle to be complete. Otherwise, you will run into the problem of forcing pieces into places they were not designed for, with gaps in the puzzle not filled and other pieces consequently not able to fit at all. The puzzle’s designer knows where each piece should go.

We are each uniquely and wonderfully made by God and as with each puzzle piece no two of us are fully alike. Some of us do not always feel like celebrating our uniqueness or we may not be sure of who we really are and who God has made us to be. Do you find yourself wishing you fitted somewhere else or wish you were made differently like someone else. God’s heart is for you and me to know that the way he made us was no mistake and that as each puzzle piece has a place distinctively ordained by the puzzle’s creator, so God has a plan and place for you in His story. This is not a vague plan; the scripture affirms his plan for your life is one of true hope.

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you Hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

This often-quoted scripture was written as part of a prophetic declaration to those Israelites who had been taken from their homeland to Babylon in modern day Iraq as captives. God’s heart was to encourage them that He had not forgotten them and he still had plans for them to prosper them and to give them a hope and a future in him.

To continue with the analogy of the puzzle piece, sometimes we can feel like a puzzle piece that has been dropped on the floor or perhaps is languishing under the sofa somewhere. We feel out of our depth and out of place in a position or situation in life that was drastically different from where we hoped or planned to be. It might even feel dark or lonely and we can wonder as the Israelites did whether God had forgotten us. For answer God reminded them and he reminds you dear reader that he does have a plan for you and I and it is a plan to bless you and give you or restore you to hope. If you identify with that lost puzzle piece today, Jesus as the embodiment of the loving heart of God describes the lengths to which God is willing to seek high and low to find you where you are.

“Suppose a woman has ten silver coins[a] and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbours together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents [turns or returns to God].”

Luke 15:8-10

As the passage illustrates, it is the pinnacle of divine joy for God’s love and hope through Jesus to find you where you are at (read the whole of Luke 15 and John 4 for further illustration of this). No puzzle is complete without every piece in place therefore God seeks you because you matter to him, and you have a purpose in His story. Without you and I that story would be incomplete. You are never beyond his love or rescue. Let the gentle love of Jesus as the Good Shepherd and His revelation light as the Light of the World reach your heart with the truth that you are not forgotten, you matter to God and your uniqueness is precious, never a mistake.

So next time you are completing a puzzle, remember your uniqueness is to be celebrated and that you have a unique part in God’s story for without you and me, history or to put it better His story would be incomplete. Thank you Father God for loving us, beautifully and uniquely forming us and including us in your grand story.

© 2023, B. Trowbridge