Earlier today on Bellshill Salvation Army Band’s Facebook page I shared the devotions I shared at band practice last Wednesday. I’d like to share those devotions with you tonight.
A few weeks ago I caught part of a TV show called ‘Young Sheldon’. For those of you who haven’t seen or heard of ‘Young Sheldon’, it is a US TV sitcom; it’s the prequel to ‘The Big Bang Theory’. ‘Young Sheldon’ is about a child genius named Sheldon Cooper and his family. Some unique challenges face Sheldon – he is socially awkward, struggling with interactions with those around him.
Here’s a short video of ‘Young Sheldon’ and the part that caught my attention the other week.
Sheldon, when your days are over, God will never ask you, ‘Why weren’t you Einstein?’ But he might ask you, ‘Why weren’t you Sheldon?’
Rabbi Schneiderman: Albert Einstein and the Story of Another Mary (Young Sheldon)
Those words really stuck with me. They made me think of a couple of verses of scripture:
Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart
Jeremiah 1:5
This verse tells us of God’s pre-emptive knowledge and purpose for each of us. It reminds us that God didn’t just create us, but he created a plan for our lives.
For You shaped me, inside and out.
Psalms 138:13-16
You knitted me together in my mother’s womb long before I took my first breath.
I will offer You my grateful heart, for I am Your unique creation, filled with wonder and awe.
You have approached even the smallest details with excellence;
Your works are wonderful;
I carry this knowledge deep within my soul.
You see all things; nothing about me was hidden from You
As I took shape in secret, carefully crafted in the heart of the earth before I was born from its womb.
You see all things;
You saw me growing, changing in my mother’s womb;
Every detail of my life was already written in Your book;
You established the length of my life before I ever tasted the sweetness of it.
In these verses of Psalms we celebrate the awe a purpose of everything, and everyone, God created. It reminds us that we’re not just created from a standard blueprint that God reused time after time, instead He created each one of us intentionally focusing on every individual detail so we are each different from one other.
He created each one of us, being, body and soul, for unique purposes. He wove together our temperament, personality, and intellect so that we are equipped to accomplish His purposes during our time here on earth.
Each of us is one of God’s unique creations and He has planned a unique journey for each of us, so that we can influence our world for Jesus.
I was still gathering my thoughts for these devotions when on Sunday morning the Songsters sang ‘He Knows My Name’. It reminded me again that God knows absolutely everything about each one of us as he knows each of us by our name.
He Knows My Name
I have a Maker
He formed my heart
Before even time began
My life was in his hands
He knows my name
He knows my every thought
He sees each tear that falls
And hears me when I call
Don’t be another Sheldon, wanting to be an imitation or copy of someone else, instead listen to God when he calls you by name, walk with Him and be just who He created you to be.
The Distinct Dot 