So the craft we did on Hannah's mirror last week on Psalms 139:14 was a fun thing for her. Hannah was so excited about this, however, days later (today) she sat and pondered asking the question: 'I'm
fearfully made? So I have
fear in me?' I didn't know quite how to answer that one to her level except to say that 'No sweetie, God created you in love and that came with His heart-felt interest.', which obviously she didn't 'get'.
I applaud Hannah though because she actually takes into account and questions the scriptures and their meanings to gain a better understanding at just the age 5, but I still am at a loss on how to explain the 'fearfully' part of the verse. She understands the 'wonderfully made' part, but is
stumped by the 'fearfully' portion. How does one explain this to a young kindergartner? For now I am praying about how to answer this at
her level as she waits upon mommie's wisdom.....pray, pray, pray, so that I can get it through to her, in her mind, at her age, at her understanding. I know God will guide me with an answer and I hate to ask Him to hurry but I fear if I don't have a response SOON, she'll get frustrated and want to clean off our 'mirror craft.'
So the craft we did on Hannah's mirror last week on Psalms 139:14 was a fun thing for her. Hannah was so excited about this, however, days later (today) she sat and pondered asking the question: 'I'm fearfully made? So I have fear in me?' I didn't know quite how to answer that one to her level except to say that 'No sweetie, God created you in love and that came with His heart-felt interest.', which obviously she didn't 'get'.
I applaud Hannah though because she actually takes into account and questions the scriptures and their meanings to gain a better understanding at just the age 5, but I still am at a loss on how to explain the 'fearfully' part of the verse. She understands the 'wonderfully made' part, but is stumped by the 'fearfully' portion. How does one explain this to a young kindergartner? For now I am praying about how to answer this at her level as she waits upon mommie's wisdom.....pray, pray, pray, so that I can get it through to her, in her mind, at her age, at her understanding. I know God will guide me with an answer and I hate to ask Him to hurry but I fear if I don't have a response SOON, she'll get frustrated and want to clean off our 'mirror craft.'
Oh that is so sweet! I love when our little ones challenge and stretch us. I will share my answer to this question after I wrestled with the meaning. What I found was that we are to fear the Lord. I believe it was the same word He used for fearing Him and how we are fearfully made. Which means to be in awe of. God made us in His image as His special creation that we should be in awe of. Not to worship like God but we are made in His image. We are His special creations to reflect Him. So for a little one I would just say it means that God made us a bit like Him. That is what fearfully means because no other creature in all creation was given that special gift. Not the cows, or the dogs, or the monkeys, etc...He made us like Him fearfully and wonderfully...
ReplyDeleteHope it helps!!
Much love,
Angela
It does help. I will try explaining this to Hannah tomorrow after church Angela. Thanks for your insight, because honestly I was NOT expecting our mirror craft from during the week to come back and 'haunt' me like this....it never even occured to me how her mind would take the words 'fearfully' into account. Hopefully she'll understand at least some of it. Thanks Angela.
ReplyDeleteYou're such a blessing!!!!!
Sarah,
ReplyDelete"Fearfully" is actually misinterpreted in the original manuscripts. Did you know that? In fact, much of Scripture has been mistranslated. When Constantine came into power, during the Creeds and Sessions, much of Scripture was purposefully interpretented in power and control-laden language.
"Fearfully" in this verse actually means "awesomely," "honorably," "respectfully," "reverantly."
It does NOT mean "fear" as in afraid.
Thus, I encourage you to tell your child this. If you stick with the old notion of "fear" as in scare, I have a good feeling that may affect her negatively for a long time. Any child who thinks he/she has "fear" inside of them, will grow up believing that, and it can become a self-fulfilling prophesy.
I agree with what you're sharing, but no, I didn't know the history. (Shame on me I know). And you're right; any child (or adult for that matter) that thinks they have fear inside of them will believe this.
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I have over a dozen adult Bibles in our home and I tried to find an answer for her to 'get'; I even looked at her chid princess Bibles but it was limited and didn't disuss certain things like this verse 'break down'.
Thanks for your help.
Sarah,
ReplyDeleteI was just sitting down to write you an email.
Glad you posted it here.
We are "wonderfully" made...we are awesomely made.
God placed inside our hearts a desire to know Him. To seek Him! To love Him! To fear Him! That fear is not be afraid fear - it is to have reverance of Him. Meaning to give him the proper respect and honor He is due. He is God. We are His creation. He is God - His ways are NOT our ways and our thoughts are NOT His. We are to trust in Him and bring honor to Him in all we do.
God has given us faith. Faith and fear don't exist together. God has not given us fear. Fear comes from the enemy. God is light and love! Where light lives no darkness can exist or hide. Pour God light and love into her heart - His perfect love casts out all fear. AMEN!
Speak to her in simple terms. Show her filling up a glass of water - take it to a window with sunshine - and watch the light reflect through it. Nothing can hide in the light. Even in a dark room - if a little light comes in the water which is all of Him will shine some light and fill the room. Bring a flash light with you. Or night light or candle. You don't need much light for the darkness to fade away. AMEN!
Oh God's truths are so rich and fun to teach our children.
Thanks for reaching out to me and inviting others to open their hearts to help you with this beautiful topic for your daughters desires to know Him more! Praising God for her wisdom and thirst for more of it!
Blessings,
Jill
PS I'm really tired at the moment so I hope everything I wrote made sense, if not email again!
Thanks Jill for your visual affect for explaining to Hannah about 'fearfully'. You've been a sweet person to write about such advice and suggestions. And yes, even through your tiredness it did all make sense. I will do the water glass and flashlight thing tomorrow when I do some 'schooling' with her...it will be a fun project for her I think and I hope one that she comprehends. Thanks again.
ReplyDeleteEveryone's answers here have all been helpful so thank you all for taking the time to help me in explaining to a little girl who seeks His understandings of the scriptures. Many blessings,
Sarah
I'm not sure I agree with the Anonymous post... I wasn't aware that Constantine had a hand of any kind in the Holy Scriptures. I'd like to ask Anonymous for something (possibly a link or source for this information) to back it up.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I have researched, the only thing that has changed in the Bible is translation -from one language to another. It still lines up with all of the original documents -which are many- and was never “purposefully interpreted” to say anything other than what it already does. Proof? Keep reading and I’ll show you.
Now, from what the Bible clearly says, it actually does mean both. Check out the Hebrew word for "fearfully" in Psalm 139:14 ---http://bible.crosswalk.com/Lexicons/Hebrew/heb.cgi?number=03372&version=kjv. And even context throughout Scripture agrees! Fearfully does mean to revere and be in awe of, but it also means to fear as well. What's important to remember is that it means both TOGETHER.
The Bible is not telling us to be afraid like we are of the dark or from watching a scary movie. Verses like Isaiah 41:10 would be meaningless then. No, it wants us to be fearful of God because this is the beginning of wisdom ---Psalms 111:10.
See, this fear is the kind that keeps us from doing wrong or bad because of what God could (or couldn't) do if we disobey and turn away from Him. If we did, we would lose His protection and our security and safety along with it, as well as His blessing upon our life. The Israelites are a good example of this.
Think of when you discipline your kids. You discipline them to teach them to fear and obey you. Right? And why should they do so? Because if they were running toward a busy highway out of your reach, your cry to “stop” might be the only thing to save them -you are trying to protect them from harm when they otherwise wouldn't see it. To do so, obedience is vital. It is the same way with God. He wants us to be fearful of Him (or being without Him) to keep us safe by our obedience.
It’s also like a father’s role in a family. Don’t know about anyone else, but when I was growing up, I was always afraid to do something bad that would spark the wrath of my father and his discipline. In effect, it helped me make wiser decisions so as not to test that wrath or procure that discipline. Most of the time anyway. But, I learned either way. ;)
So, yes, we are certainly fearfully made in every meaning of the word. It all ties together... Fear of God leads to thought concerning our actions and a desire to do what’s right, which leads to God’s blessing and protection.
Hopefully this helps you concerning your daughter as well as shows Anonymous the importance and necessity of EVERY word in the Bible. I assure you, we need every one.
It does mean "awe". I'm amazed and so happy that God took awe in creating us. He enjoyed it and was pleased and awed by His doing. I love that.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like you have some good advice. LLP made some good comments. Go with them. Hope it works out.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your frustration. You've gotten a lot of good input here. Just keep it simple in terms she can understand. God will direct your words and her understanding. It will be okay!
ReplyDeleteI'm happy to see that so many others have shared their understanding of the scripture and that "fearfully" actually means "reverentially awesome." God took great care in making us (Psalms 139:13) in His image. I'm so inspired by your daughter's careful consideration of scripture at such a young age. You must be doing a wonderful job introducing her to Jesus. God bless you!
ReplyDelete