For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.

Don’t miss the Lord whispering that He formed your inward parts, especially when “man looks on the outward appearance” (1 Samuel 16:7). It’s easy to yearn for today’s verse to be about God validating your outward, physical form, and therefore believe that your external physicality will be appreciated by all. In a misplaced effort to be perceived as physically attractive, you may unconsciously manipulate others into caring more about what you think about them than what God thinks about them.

The phrase, “you formed my inward parts,” is comprised of the Hebrew words, qanah and kilyah. Kilyah literally refers to the kidneys, while qanah can mean: “to ransom, create, or bring forth.”

Biblically, the symbolism of the kidneys is that they are submerged in cushy fat, which, during animal sacrifices in the Old Testament, was considered fat of such purity that the organs were still a sign of surpassing moral excellence. In Christ, you are blameless, pure (Colossians 1:22).

During animal sacrifices in the Old Testament, the kidneys were so inaccessible that, in cutting up the animal, they were the last organ to be reached. The relevant application is that the kidneys are a symbol for the most hidden part of a man or woman. Or, they speak to the most private desires of one’s heart.

David is relaying that he has found the answer to his yearning to be liked, loved, and perceived as beautiful, handsome, worthy. See, the most private or inaccessible and hidden places of one’s heart are first safest in the hands of God. It is there that the Hebrew word, “qanah,” comes into play.

God ransoms you by creating an atmosphere in His presence where your most private desires are not shamed. He “ransoms” your heart, “creates,” and “brings forth” your cries, in His company. To ransom is to pay what’s been demanded. The enemy of your soul has demanded that you feel guilt for spewing to God what you really desire because your past has been colored.

Yet the Bible commands you to “pour out your hearts before him; God is a refuge for us,” (Psalm 62:8). Furthermore, it stills your soul with the Truth that God doesn’t even remember your sins (Hebrews 8:12). After all, when you want to be liked, loved, and perceived as attractive, not all fat is bad: “And in that day, his burden will depart from your shoulder, and his yoke from your neck; and the yoke will be broken because of the fat” (Isaiah 10:27).

The fat represents the anointing over your life, or the Truth: you are clean in God’s eyes. That is what you have really desired to believe. Christ within you allows you to find your greatest satisfaction in a relationship with Him. He reveals YOU are beautiful, yes. But He still sees below the surface, to the reason why unbelief regarding that fact is clouding your vision and causing your truest desires for your relationship with another to burden your heart.

Will you be honest in His Presence today?

Jenny Laux, Bible League International contributor, Wisconsin, U.S.