Bible Society of South Africa
Benescke Janse van Rensburg

Still I will – Day 8

Still I will find my worth in You

Bible text(s)

13You created every part of me;

you put me together in my mother's womb.

14I praise you because you are to be feared;

all you do is strange and wonderful.

I know it with all my heart.

15When my bones were being formed,

carefully put together in my mother's womb,

when I was growing there in secret,

you knew that I was there —

16you saw me before I was born.

The days allotted to me

had all been recorded in your book,

before any of them ever began.

17O God, how difficult I find your thoughts;

how many of them there are!

18If I counted them, they would be more than the grains of sand.

When I awake, I am still with you.

Psalms 139:13-18GNBOpen in Bible reader

When the renowned photographer Kevin Abosch took the picture known as #345 of an Irish potato, I am sure he never, in his wildest dreams, thought that an unknown businessman from Europe would a few weeks later see the picture of the potato (taken against a plain black background) and buy it for €1 million. When asked if he ever thought the potato would be so valuable, Abosch smiled and said he could not even remember the moment he took the picture, as he photographed many other potatoes that day.

In a supermarket a single potato is very cheap. However, in the right hands, a cheap potato can be worth millions.

Even though God created us with enormous potential, we sometimes, due to wrong decisions, disappointments or degrading words of people who are supposed to love us, feel as if we worthless. This is where the enemy wants to keep us. God, on the other hand, has no restrictions on what He can and wants to do in our lives when we become obedient instruments in His hands.

Look at Moses. He stuttered, yet God used him to lead the Israelites out of slavery. Gideon was a frightened soldier with an inferiority complex, but God used him to lead the Israelites in a major battle. David was a shepherd, and the youngest of all his brothers, but God chose to appoint him as king of Israel because his heart was in the right place. Rahab was a prostitute, but God used her to save the lives of the spies in Jericho, because she was obedient and available.

In Acts 10:34-35, we are reminded that God is no respecter of persons. He loves us all equally. In Jeremiah 29:11, He says that He has plans to prosper and not to harm us. And in Psalm 139:13-18, the psalmist reminds us of our value to God when he writes: “You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb … Your workmanship is marvellous — how well I know it … Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. 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!”

The Irish potato, #345, could not have done anything to be more valuable. It was merely placed in the right hands at the right time. Every day God also looks down on earth to find vessels to accomplish His ways on earth (2 Chronicles 12:9). Let us allow Him to heal our hurts, fill us with self-confidence and use us where He needs us. If so, we might just stand in amazement at the large, prominent things He can do in and through our lives. Remember you are extremely valuable to Him. God bless.

Bible Society of South Africav.4.18.8
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