“He fashions their hearts individually; He considers all their works.” 

Psalm 33:15

Your heart was individually fashioned by God.

My heart was individually fashioned by God.

Do you ever wonder what your heart looks like?  I do!  I would love to know what my heart really looks like.  1 Samuel 16:7 says, “The LORD does not look at the things man looks at.  Man looks at outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”  What is it that God sees when He looks upon my heart?

Sometimes my imagination drifts and I ponder this question.  I can be exceedingly critical of myself.  I have doubts.  I can become very fearful.  I can worry that there is nothing good to be found in my heart, that it is a dark, ugly place to be.  I have made so many bad choices in my life.  There is much that I have to be ashamed of.  If there is shame in my heart, is my heart my greatest torture chamber?

My heart was fashioned by God.  My heart was not fashioned by me.  Praise God for that!

I thank the Holy Spirit for the deep promptings to meditate and deliberate on the meaning of the words “to fashion”.  This is a verb.  It expresses an action.  There was action involved when our hearts were fashioned, an action carried out by the perfect hands of God.

One definition is to give shape, to form or mold.  Interestingly, molding can be defined as determining the nature of something.  In this case, God is determining the nature of who we are.  Doesn’t this idea fall right in line with the biblical truth from Psalm 139:13, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb”?  What if our inmost being is our hearts?

Another definition of “to fashion” says that it means to mold into a particular character by influencing or training.  We are not in fully completed form when God weaves us together in our mothers’ wombs.  That is just the beginning of our lives.  God has so much more in store for us.  His work is not fully complete.  God tells us in Psalm 32:8, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye.”  Instruction and teaching, those are actions too.  God will continue to pour into us, to have relationship with us, training and influencing each of our days.

Still another explanation of “to fashion” is to make or construct usually with the use of imagination and ingenuity.  Aren’t imagination and ingenuity key descriptors of who God is?  Have you seen His works?  My kids love animals.  We spend a great deal of time tour zoos.  From the small and local to the San Diego zoo, we’ve been all over.  We’ve seen some crazy things.  One of my favorite is the Giraffe, talk about a witness to imagination & ingenuity.

That’s before we even get to the pinnacle creations, us.  Think of how complex and unique we all are.  How different are you from everyone around you?  I have two children, a girl who is seven and a boy who is thirteen.  It’s almost daily that I find a new way to be in awe over their differences.  God has hand crafted billions of people; that means billions of skill-sets, combinations of talents, and billions of gifts beyond measure.  My mind is too limited to even come close to that one.

A final definition of the verb “to fashion” is simply to fit.  The use of the word that I am referring to is to be suitable for or to be put into a condition to be ready for something.  “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” Ephesians 2:10.

Doesn’t that verse just pull it all together?  Isn’t the unity of the message of the Bible absolutely amazing!

We are God’s handiwork.  Our hearts were fashioned by Him.  There are good works that God knew we would be needed for in this time and this place.  He doesn’t just know it now, He knew it before He created us.

I have had the blessing in my life to meet some pretty amazing people.  In particular, one engineer whose work still leaves me in awe.  He is the ultimate problem solver.  When he is designing something he pours his energy into the solution, taking into account the most magnificent details and all of the ways that those particulars can vary.  Everything he does now is focused on what it will be like when his creation is working in its designed application.

I think, this morning, that must be a glimpse of what God is like.  Taking into account all of the particulars.  Tending to the details.  Pouring His energy and love into the solution.  If we are God’s creation, His handiwork, and there are good works God knew of in advance for us to do, then we must be part of the solution and part of the plan.

You and your blessed heart were fashioned by God.  You are individual.  You are unique.  You are treasure.

We will not know until we stand face to face with Jesus what are hearts look like.  But, we can trust, trust that God is good, trust that He knows all things, and have faith that He is in control.  Because of this, we know that we were made for good things.

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

As God was working on your heart and mine, He was working with perfect love.  Love so great that He would pay for you two times over; once when you were created and once through the blood of Jesus who died for you, to restore you to the love of a perfect God.  He cares about you that much.  For all of us who take another breath, that love is not done working on our hearts or in our lives.

Whatever we face today, no matter how rough the expectations are for what lies ahead in the coming hours, God is still pouring His love into us.  There is no step that we will be alone.  We can be completely dependent upon Him.  He loves you.  He knows the purpose for your life and the situations that you are in.  He is with you and brings the full power of all of His creativity and ingenuity.  What a gift to celebrate today.

Dear and Beloved Lord,

Thank You so much!  Thank You for the love, the care, the compassion and the effort that You pour into the initial creation of our hearts.  Thank You for the ongoing crafting, training and influencing always delivered so perfectly timed.  You are amazing!  You are awe inspiring! 

Lord, may our response to these blessings just be to come to You exactly as we are as much as we can.  May we shower You will adoration and love returned onto You. 

Lord please encourage each person who reads my meager words.  You so amazingly knew that this was part of what You were creating me for.  I am blessed to tears that You would think so highly of me to allow me to be a messenger of such a gift.  Hug each of my dear readers for me Lord the way that I only wish that I could.  I love and cherish them so.  I know You hold them so much more dearer than I, treasure them today my Lord. 

In Jesus’ name, Amen!