Daily Manna · Day 217 · August 5
Fearfully and Wonderfully Made
“For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”
What are your "reins"? The word is right there in today's verse, and most of us read straight past it because nobody uses it anymore. In the old English of the KJV, reins are the kidneys. In Hebrew thought the kidneys stood for the deepest part of a person, the place where conscience and desire really work, and the Bible often names them alongside the heart. That is why it says God tries the reins: He examines what nobody else can see. So the psalm begins with the hidden you: "For thou hast possessed my reins." The Hebrew word for "possessed" means to get, to make and to own. God made the part of you nobody has ever seen, and it belongs to Him.
That is why the praise in the next line does not point where we assume. Every phrase around it is about what God has done: "thou hast possessed," "thou hast covered," "marvellous are thy works." So "I am fearfully and wonderfully made" is not a compliment to the body you see in the mirror. It is awe aimed at the Maker. The psalm makes this clear by not stopping there. Near its end David prays, "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts." The same man who says he was made in secret asks God to inspect him. Being made by God gives Him a claim on you, and that claim comes before the comfort.
So do one concrete thing today to care for the body God made, whatever it looks like. Go to bed at a sensible hour, walk for twenty minutes, or make the appointment you have put off twice. Then let the psalm finish its prayer. Ask God "see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." The One who made you in secret knows you completely, and He is still willing to lead you.
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year two reading for day 217 is Neither Jew Nor Greek (Galatians 3:28).