2026 Sacred Whispers Blog

“I will praise You; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made…”

Psalm 139:14

 “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you…”

Jeremiah 1:5

THE QUESTION OF IDENTITY

When I was in high school, I was a member of our Speech & Debate Team. My passion was writing oratories, which is the art and practice of persuasive public speaking. I remember competing in one event sponsored by the Lions Club. At this competition, I wrote a speech entitled “Who Am I.” I started my speech with, “Who am I? I am me, a unique individual. In all the world there is no one exactly like me.” As I was writing these words, God reminded me of the passage in Psalm 139:14: I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. So, I decided to put a pin in writing for the competition and spend some time digging deeper into that passage.

Even as a student, I was naming something Scripture affirmed long before we ever developed the language for it. The lesson that God was teaching me all those years ago was simply that identity is not discovered through comparison, performance, success, or approval; identity is revealed by God. Before we ever asked, “Who am I?” God had already answered, “You are Mine.” There is a life-reinforcing truth that teaches us that ‘belonging is tied to belief’.

FEARFULLY AND WONDERFULLY MADE

Before centering our thoughts around the question “Who am I?” it would be helpful if we acknowledged why this question even matters in the first place. A.W. Tozer once wrote, “What comes into our minds when we think about ourselves is the greatest indicator of what we actually believe when we think about God.” In the same way, what we believe about ourselves, in light of who God is, shapes how we live, how we trust, and how we walk through the world. In essence, the search for identity is not just personal; it is spiritual.

David praises God for His all-knowing, ever-present, all-powerful nature. I found that “fearfully” refers to being made with awe, reverence, and a sense of holy dread or wonder. “Wonderfully” refers to the significance of being made in a unique, intricate, and marvelous way. “Wonderful are Your works” extends the praise beyond the individual to acknowledge how great and wonderful God really is. And “I know that full well” reinforces that the knowledge of being uniquely and purposefully made is a deeply held conviction.

One early church father explained this verse by saying, “To know oneself is to begin to behold the workmanship of God.” Identity is not taking a ride on an ego trip; it is a self-unveiling act of worship. When David praises God for how he was made, he is not glorifying himself, he is glorifying the Divine Artist who created him as a masterpiece.

‘KNOWN’ BEFORE YOU KNOWN

God was so intentional when He created us in His thoughts, that He placed the unique and one-of-a-kind “us” in “us” before we were an “us.” I know… that’s a lot of “us’s,” but when we think about it, every aspect of who we are was uniquely knit together in the mind of our loving Father before any of them ever came into being. This passage clearly affirms this truth in Psalm 139:16, when it says, “Your eyes saw my unformed substance, and in Your book all the days [of my life] were written before ever they took shape, when as yet there was none of them.”

Let your heart be drawn to the words “all the days of my life… when as yet there was none of them.” It is impossible for me to read those words and not be overwhelmed with a flood of emotion. God knew everything about me, about my life, about my imperfections, about my habits and my flaws, before my life ever existed. The weight of this truth says that I was known, approved of, loved, and accepted before air ever filled my lungs, or thoughts ever swirled in my mind, or blood ever traveled through my veins. God knew me. Before I ever had a fingerprint, DNA, or a genetic sequence, God knew me. Nothing about me is arbitrary, incidental, or an afterthought.

There are times when we may feel unknown. Seasons of life when the greatest emotion we have is the lonely feeling of isolation. We may be in a crowded room, but feel like we are on a deserted island. We may be around friends and loved ones, but sense that no one truly, fully, and completely knows us.

Do they know our joys or our pains? Do they know the secret vault that harbors our fears, or the buried treasure that holds our strengths?

These questions quietly lurk behind our hesitance to share our talents with the world, or the shyness that causes us to be silent when what we have to say has weight and merit, or the belief that we have nothing of value to share with the world.

So, you may be wrestling through a season of your life that causes you to ask if anyone really, truly, genuinely knows you? The answer is a resounding, unmistakable, passion-filled… YES!

Yes, you are known!

Yes, you are loved!

Yes, you are seen!

Yes. Yes. Yes.

God saw you before you were ever introduced to this world, and He loved what He saw so much that He took the time to create it! He didn’t rethink His original design of you, He made you exactly the way He desired you to be. You are intentionally designed by God, and you are perfectly loved by Him. Making you the way He did is what pleased Him the most. You were made for His pleasure and for His glory.

PURPOSE BREATHED INTO YOU

You were not just made for His pleasure; you were made for His purpose. Jeremiah 29:11 says, For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. We each have that special something that makes us unique because God “thought” it into us!  From the creativity of God’s mind, He created the uniqueness of our souls.

Everything God created serves a unique function. Water keeps us alive and refreshes the earth. Air fills our lungs and gives us life. The sun shines its warmth down upon us to nourish mankind and all created things with its life-giving rays. The flowers and terrestrial greenery share with humanity both their beauty and their vegetation.

All of these things serve a purpose, which is why they were created. How much more of a purpose do you and I have? We are the crowning act of God’s creation; shall He not fill our lives with more purpose than anything else in nature itself?

And is this not reassuring? Purpose is not something we chase; it’s something that has been breathed into us. God’s intentionality in creation means that nothing about us is accidental, not our wiring, our gifts, our story, or even our questions. Heaven “thought” us into existence, and we spend the rest of our lives living up to the fulfillment of that thought.

Because of this, there is joy in this journey we call life, but we must shift our focus and reevaluate those things we are searching for. Psalm 16:11 says, Thou wilt shew me the path of life: at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. Joy does not always come from figuring ourselves out; often, it comes from fixing our eyes on Jesus to allow Him to show us the proper “path of our lives”.  Once we know who He is, who we are becomes clearer.

REDISCOVERING IDENTITY THROUGH A SIMPLE MOMENT

Now, if you were wondering what the outcome was of the competition, I didn’t get 1st or 2nd, but I got 3rd place, and I was overjoyed. God was using this competition to remind me of my uniqueness. Even in high school, I was searching and seeking to discover who I was. This competition gave me an opportunity to sit with His Word and let His Spirit give me an answer to the question, “Who am I?” Now I can boldly say along with the Psalmist in Psalm 139:14, “I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.”

And isn’t it just like God to use something as simple as a school speech to inject into our souls a lifelong truth? Moments that seem small to us often become sacred altars before God; unlikely places where God stamps His identity on our hearts.

PRAYER

Father, thank You for helping me start the journey toward placing my identity in You. Please give me eyes to see myself as You see me: cherished, loved, capable, uniquely gifted, and beautifully created. I want to be defined by You and nothing else. I give Your truth authority over my life and ask You to show me how I can use what You’ve given me to grow Your Kingdom. Thank You for Your unconditional love that doesn’t leave me stuck where I am but draws me ever closer to You. Thank You for being my constant everything. I love You and trust You. In Jesus’ great name, Amen.

SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINE

Spend a few quiet minutes reflecting on this truth: God knew you fully and loved you completely before you ever lived a single day.

Write down one aspect of yourself: your personality, your story, or your gifting, that you often overlook or undervalue.

Ask God to show you why He intentionally placed that part of you within His design, and how it can be used to glorify Him today.