“I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well.”
—Psalm 139:14

Reflection

In Song of Songs, we find a beautiful love story between a bride, known as the Shulamite woman, and her beloved king. Throughout this poetic book, their relationship also gives us a spiritual picture of the deep and intimate love Messiah Jesus has for His people.

In chapter 7, the bridegroom praises his bride’s physical beauty, describing her feet, eyes, hair, and other features. He declares, “How beautiful and how delightful you are, my love, with all your charms!” (Song of Songs 7:6).

The Song uses human language to help us understand a reality too big to fully comprehend. It is a way of helping us understand how deep and intimate God’s love is for us.

There is another important application here. As we see the bridegroom praising his bride, it reminds us that God cares about our bodies.

Sometimes we are inclined to think Father God loves our souls and spirits but is not really concerned about our bodies. That is a fallacy and not true. He made our bodies, and the Bible calls them fearfully and wonderfully made.

When we are physically sick, God cares. When we are in pain, our plight touches Him. Father God’s love is thorough and extends to every part of us, including our physical bodies.

Jesus Himself took on a physical body (John 1:14). We need to stop rejecting our bodies and acting like they are part of the curse. No! God made your body!

We all have aches and pains and things we struggle with pertaining to our physical beings, but God never hates our bodies. He wants to release His healing virtue to repair and restore them so they too reflect His glory.

Take me, for instance. I always wished I were taller. I stand five-foot-six, and that’s on my tiptoes! But I am not going to curse my body. God made me this height, and I’m going to say, Father God, thank You for making me the way You did.

Beloved, some of you have inferiority complexes and are not receiving the love of God for your physical bodies. In a manner of speaking, you are cursing your body. But God does not curse your body, ever.

We need to bless our bodies regardless of how they function or what they look like. I understand that there are parts of our bodies we wish were different, either in appearance or function. One day we will have new, glorified bodies, but for now we must bless and nurture the bodies we have.

Just as the bridegroom blesses the Shulamite bride from head to toe, the Lord’s love encompasses your entire being.

Beloved, receive this truth today. You are fearfully and wonderfully made, and Father God loves every part of you.

Application

• Thank Father God for the body He has given you. Rather than focusing on what you wish were different, choose to bless and nurture your body.
• Consider whether feelings of physical inadequacy have kept you from receiving God’s love. Ask Him to help you see yourself as fearfully and wonderfully made.

Prayer

Father, I thank You for my physical body. It is a vessel of honor and glory for You to dwell in. Come and strengthen my physical heart, my lungs, my arteries, my blood, my legs and arms, and my nervous system. Thank You, Lord Jesus, for loving me from head to toe. I thank You for this earthen vessel You have given me in which to carry Your anointing while I am on earth, and for the promise that one day I will have a new, glorified body. In Yeshua’s name and for Yeshua’s fame, amen.