You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous — and how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about me, O God! They are innumerable! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up in the morning, you are still with me! (Psalm 139:13-18)

Psalm 139 is one of my favorite passages of scripture. It tells of his protective love and covering over us. It reminds us that no matter where we are in life, no matter how far we’ve gone astray, no matter what problems assail us, he is there, and he knows what we’re going through. In the midst of this, we find these verses that again hearken back to the creation narratives found in the very beginning of our Bible. However, instead of the potter and clay image found in Genesis 2, we find another artistic image, that of a textile weaver. This image is also used in Job 10:8–12 as we see God knitting together skin, flesh, bones, and sinew—God as the Master Weaver.

Have you ever examined the back of a tapestry? It is a mess! All the threads cross over one another and stick out in disarray. However, when you turn it over, its true image is revealed, and you can see how all the threads come together to create something cohesive and beautiful.

Our lives are like a tapestry.

The Master Weaver takes all these threads and pieces and entwines them together.

It takes time.

It’s a slow process.

Seems as if it may never be complete.

Sometimes we look at our lives from the back and we hardly understand. It seems there’s no pattern, no rhyme nor reason, to the threads and their pattern. Pieces stick out. There are knots. The edges are frayed. There are places where dark threads seem to be matted together, thick and muddled. There are places of vibrant color, but even the color seems in disarray.

Nothing makes sense.

However, at the end of our lives, the Master Weaver will turn us over, and a magnificent tapestry will be revealed. Can we wait for that day? Can we trust that what seems like chaos is actually an intricately woven pattern of beauty?

Hannah was a blonde, curly-headed girl with Down’s Syndrome from our church. Her shy smile and giggle were infectious. When she was still quite young, she died in a tragic accident at her home. In many respects, the tapestry of her life still does not make sense. At least, to us. Yet the Master Weaver, who had ordained all the days of her precious life, has already turned over her tapestry to reveal its beauty to all the angels and saints gathered there at her homecoming. And as she plays at the foot of the magnificent throne of heaven, God watches over her and smiles at the beauty of his handiwork.

Our prayer: Dear Lord, as we examine the fabric of our lives, may we be mindful of your hand gently weaving and creating a tapestry of beauty. Grant us patience in the process. Help us to trust the places that don’t make sense. In the end, may you turn us over to reveal your glory—woven there through the weft and warp of our lives. We praise you, Lord, for we know that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. By the Weaver’s Hand, Amen.

(C) 2014 Jody Thomae
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Jody Thomae is the author of God’s Creative Gift–Unleashing the Artist in You and The Creator’s Healing Power–Restoring the Broken to Beautiful, both part of the Bible Studies to Nurture the Creative Spirit Within series. For more Bible studies like the one above, you can purchase her books at: Amazon, Jody’s Square Store and through other book retailers. They are also available in Kindle.