Compliments from God – You Are Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

“Compliments are gifts, receive them graciously and say thank you. No disclaimers allowed.” ~Unknown.

I’m not entirely sure why, but I find it very difficult to receive compliments from anyone about anything. I tend to be self-deprecating in most senses of the word and it drives my husband crazy. From deflecting compliments by highlighting my shortcomings, to making jokes about myself that others rarely find funny, I think it’s safe to say I may need some deliverance in this department. Our children are at that age where we’re teaching them to say thank you when they receive a compliment. Our daughter does it so effortlessly, in fact, sometimes when I compliment her, her response is, “I know Mommy.” Our son, on the other hand, isn’t always as self-assured. Depending on his mood, his response may be a resounding or a sheepish, “thank you.” I want to be more like my daughter as I grow up. Somebody, please pray for me!

Compliment: a polite expression of praise or admiration. When it comes to how well you receive a compliment you may be on one end of the spectrum like Chiara, middle gauge like Caleb or way over on the other end like me. Wherever you may be, I would like you to consider how well you receive the polite expressions of praise and admiration directed to you, not by other people, but by God.

Have you ever acknowledged the fact that God gives you compliments? I like to tell my friends, especially on their birthdays, that I pray God winks at them. In our human context, wink is more flirtatious than anything, but when it comes to God, I feel His winks as His way of showing that He sees us and that we’re His special one. The Bible is full of expressions of praise or admiration God addresses to us. His words about our physical appearance, our work, our gifts and our callings, are all wonderful compliments He showers us with consistently. Do we receive His compliments as easily as we do the compliments of others? Or do we deflect and disregard them, just as easily as the ones given to us by those around us? Oddly enough, our response to God’s compliments is what informs how we counter the compliments of others.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.” ~ Psalms 139:14 (ESV)

Towards the end of last year, this verse was our memory verse for the week. A friend of mine and I choose a verse each week to memorise and meditate on. While I do this with her, I also do it with my children and so far it has been both enlightening and entertaining. Getting a three and five-year-old to memorise and understand verses of scripture will do that. The week we were reflecting on Psalms 139:14, I realised a few things that I want to share with you. I hope my vulnerability ushers you into candidly reflecting on how you feel about this verse and its application to you too.

I praise you for…

I don’t find it difficult to praise God. When I stop to think of all the amazing things He has done and continues to do for me, I can’t help myself. Sometimes I even think about the things He has protected me from and where I would probably be today if not for Him, and again, I can’t help myself but give Him praise. I had never, before meditating on this verse, given God praise for how He had made me. Honestly, it never occurred to me. Not even to praise Him for deciding to make me female. It just wasn’t something I did.

I love the song “Nalimitemwa (I Love You)” and though I am not Bemba speaking, over the years I have learned what the lyrics to that song mean. When it comes to the lyrics “Na Mano Yandi (Even my mind, intelligence and faculties), ndemipela Lesa wandi (I give or surrender to you, my God), nalimitemwa (I love you). It never once occurred to me that the way God made my mind pertains to the fearful and wonderful way in which He created me. I would sing that part of the song connecting my mind to my ability to work and in essence, saying to God that I was surrendering the works of my hands to Him. While that is well and good, the lyric prompts you and me to surrender our mind, which God Himself created, back to Him. All the years singing that song it never dawned on me that the song prompts a posture of worship to do the very thing Psalm 139:14 encourages us to do… Praise God for how He has made us fearfully and wonderfully.

I have always struggled with body image issues. From as far back as I can remember, in comparison to friends and family members, I didn’t think I measured up when it came to my looks. Meditating on this verse highlighted some of these things, things I had buried ever so well under different accomplishments and activities over the years. Things that no matter how well I buried from others, were still there each time I looked in the mirror and were hindering me from praising God for His best work… me. You may not be the size you want to be at the moment or like me, you may struggle with acne. Whatever the case, no matter your situation, you were made by the hand of the Almighty God. He who makes no mistakes formed you in His secret place and wants you to see yourself in a way that causes your lips to give Him praise. So, I challenge you as I challenge myself, every morning as you get ready for the day, find one thing about how God created you and give Him praise for that thing. As you praise Him, you will be amazed how in love with His work you will fall.

Wonderful are your works

Learning to accept compliments from others is one thing, whether you receive them easily or not. But you cannot effectively worship and praise God for who He truly is without acknowledging how wonderful His masterpiece of you is. While praising God for how He made us is a huge step in the right direction, there are many more delightful things God says about us in His Word. Do you believe them? Do you take time to speak them over yourself and allow His compliments of you to shower over you? Believe me, only then can we truly say that His works are wonderful.

My soul knows it very well

When we allow the truths of what God says about us in His Word to enter our minds and settle into our hearts there is a confidence that grows. Confidence in who we are because of who He is. Confidence that no matter what anyone else may say, even ourselves, He has always been right about us and our souls know this very well. This knowledge doesn’t come overnight but with the practice and meditation of God’s words about us. This meditation should interrupt our patterns of thinking to the point that self-talk is transformed. I once heard Sarah Jakes Roberts say to her mother in an interview as they discussed the importance of positive self-talk, “Don’t say that about my friend.” In this interview, Mrs Serita Jakes admitted that her self-talk could often be less than nice and that each time she would slip up, hearing her daughter remind her not to speak ill of herself helped her adjust her words. Does your soul know that you are fearfully and wonderfully made? Does the knowledge of God’s thoughts about you exude in how you conduct and even speak to yourself?

As you work on accepting compliments better, I encourage you to start by learning to accept the compliments of God first. From this settled place, you will find that accepting polite expressions of praise or admiration will become less awkward because your soul will know the truth very well.