Valuable Substance

They say, “Pictures never lie . . .” 

Sometimes you wish they did.

(And sometimes you wish they were censored from the family photo albums.)

But there’s one picture I wish I had.

A photo that looked something like this person’s.
Not many have the privilege of seeing what they looked like at this age.

9-week human embryo

Imagine what you and I looked like even before this.

When our eyes, and fingers, and spine weren’t even partly formed.

Imagine seeing ourselves as only a 9-hour embryo, for instance.

When we were only “substance.”

I discovered recently that when the Bible says, “Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. . . ” (Psalm 139:16), the word “substance” is Hebrew for “an unformed mass, as an embryo.”

In other words . . . there is Somebody who actually looked at us when we were simply unformed matter.

God’s eyes saw what we looked like.  He protected us in our mother’s womb (v.13).

And He designed what we would look like as we were forming.
Like embroidery (v.15).

You and I were “fearfully” (respectfully) and “wonderfully” (distinguishably) made (v.14).

And it all happened where only His eyes could see.

Yes. “Pictures never lie.”

But think of this . . . you and I were valuable in His eyes when we were only "substance."

And we’re valuable to Him still.