I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

            Wonderful are your works;

                        my soul knows it very well. (Psalm 139:14)

Psalm 139 ought to impress the weight and wonder of God upon your soul. In light of this psalm, churches should in turn feel the weight and wonder of their ministry to students. Let us take just a slice of this glory and meditate on verse 14, answering three questions: What does this verse mean, why does it matter, and what does it look like in your church’s student ministry?

What Does Psalm 139:14 Mean? 

First, consider the whole psalm. This is a psalm about wondering and pondering the magnificence of God. Specifically, David is marveling at God’s knowledge, His presence, and His creation.

In verses 1–6, David marvels that God knows everything about him. God knows his comings and goings, his working and resting, his acting and thinking. It is too wonderful for David. In verses 7–12, our psalmist wonders at God’s presence. There is nowhere David has been, is, or will be where God is not. David is never alone. God is in heaven and in the grave, in the sky with the birds and in the sea with the fish. God leads and holds. Not even darkness stops His presence. Finally, in verses 13–16, David punctuates these observations by wondering at how the Lord created him. It is God who formed him. It is God who thought of David, brought his parents together, knitted him in the womb, and watched his growth.

This is not a psalm about the magnificence of man but the magnificence of his Creator. It is the Creator’s magnificence that David so memorably praises in verse 14: “I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”

We are fearfully made. Fearfully is an interesting word to use. But it is the same word that we ascribe to our relation to the Lord. We fear the Lord. This is a weighty thing. We are in awe of Him, in the same way we awe at how we were created.

Wonderfully made speaks to the uniqueness of our design. David marvels at how he was made as one of the people of God. He has been set apart as one of God’s chosen people.

This verse points to the image of God in us. We are all created in the image of God. We have been given souls that can have affections, minds that can practice wisdom, and wills that can do righteous deeds. We’ve been created to reflect the glory of God to the rest of creation.

This image uniquely gives us inherent dignity. We are valuable and worthy of being treated with respect because we are all little images of the Creator. His image gives everyone value, from the youngest to the oldest. In this way, God loves all people. They all reflect Him, whether dimly or brightly. 

Why Does Psalm 139:14 Matter?

God is the Creator and sustainer of everything. Not a galaxy rotates in the universe without the instruction of the Lord. He spins the very universe on His finger and beholds all worlds and stars at once. He holds together the atoms that make up you and me. He sees every revolution of every electron that spins around every nucleus of every atom. He created the friendly dog and the majestic lion. He created the bustling trees and beautiful sunsets. He enjoys the sun setting continually on earth and on every other planet that exists with its sun. Yet of all these wonderful things, you and I are the crown of His creation. Humans. We bear His image, unlike everything else. You have intrinsic worth greater than any sunset or solar system. The students in your church have that same worth.

But at the same time, every other created thing in the universe obeys the voice of God. The only created things that rebel are the creatures that bear His image. We mar and distort the image with our sin. So, God in His wisdom, not desiring for us to stay that way, sent His Son. The perfect image. The radiance of His glory. The exact imprint of His nature.[1] His Son came and took on that image-bearing flesh. The true image takes on the reflection. He lived as we should and died as we should so that, through faith, our image might be restored to its true beauty.

So why does this psalm and the image of God matter for your student ministry? Because for the limited time that you have with them, you will have five or 500 broken image-bearers that need the image-restoring gospel. These students have worth that the world and even they themselves will try to blur and break. You have the gospel of life and light for them.

What Does Psalm 139:14 Look Like in Your Church’s Student Ministry?

I want to impress the weight and wonder of the task on you.

First, if you are in Christ, you bear a restored image of God, and your students need to see that. Let whatever you do be done in holiness, love, and wonder. When you sing, sing in awe and fear of the Lord. When you pray, pray like you know the Lord hears and answers you. When you eat stale chips, drink flat Cokes, and play cringy youth group games, do it to the glory of God. When you speak, let your words be seasoned with glory.

Second, these students need the image-restoring gospel. Make sure they hear that gospel—that God is holy, they are not, Christ came to be what we could not be, and we can have Christ’s righteousness and forgiveness of sin if we repent and place our trust in Him and His work. The Lord has been with these students since the beginning. He knitted them together. He knew their names before they were conceived. He has providentially placed them in your care to hear the good news of Jesus. Do not waste that.

Reflect the Lord’s holiness. Reflect the Lord’s love. Reflect the Lord’s gospel.

That was the weight of your task. Now let me lighten it. Let me show you the wonder.

You can trust in the providence, wisdom, mercy, and grace of God. He is the one who does the life changing and soul saving. He lets us be a part of this process when we proclaim the gospel and build up the saints. So at the end of every Wednesday, school year, and church camp, you can sleep.

The Lord will care for these students after they leave your care. You are being entrusted with them for just a little bit. It is your privilege and responsibility. Be faithful and entrust the fruit to the Lord. His love is greater than your love. His grace is greater. His mercy is greater. I pray you minister this week with wonder and awe at God. Minister knowing that these students have been fearfully and wonderfully made. I pray you end each youth group gathering saying to the Lord, “Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.”

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[1] Hebrews 1:3.