One-Hair Brush

               For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand— when I awake, I am still with you. (Psalm 139:13-18)

                We have looked at God’s omniscience and omnipresence. Today is about omnipotence. As we think about God’s power, we tend to think in big terms. God’s omnipotence was involved in His creation of the universe. Or with Jesus’ resurrection, or miracles. But in this psalm, when the writer got to omnipotence, he went micro, not macro. God created your inmost being. He knitted you together in your mother’s womb. You are fearfully and wonderfully made. Your frame was not hidden from Him when you were made in the secret place, etc.

                His power is not only displayed in the great and impressive, but also in His attention to what we might think is an insignificant detail. It’s like the painter who uses a brush with one hair in it to absolutely control where the paint is to go and how much paint is to go there. We might think it’s a bizarre technique, but the painting is a masterpiece when done. For centuries, scientists thought physics was “it.” Then they started considering quantum physics and quantum mechanics, and curious things like fractals, all of which deal with the relationships between the tiniest of details. Great and awesome things can be done with a lot of power and a little direction. But when it comes to the expert use of tiny amounts of power, great precision is needed, and that’s the sort of thing the psalmist is discussing. Those tiny things can be more meaningful than the big shows.

Think of it this way. There are people who spend hundreds of hours building intricate structures out of blocks or matches, then knock over a block or light a match so that in thirty seconds, their work is destroyed. The building is a show of power and mastery. The destruction is a display of nothing but power. God spent thousands of years setting up your DNA and the DNA of that person who irritated you today. He at least allowed the encounter – if He didn’t arrange it – to add some color or character to your life and theirs. Tiny strokes where bigger ones would ruin the effect.