Who Am I?

Who am I? What is my purpose in life? What brings meaning to life? These are all questions we struggle with and ask from time to time. They are good questions, but often come when life brings disappointments, when expectations fail and when what we used to know doesn’t seem to make sense any more.

I quick Google search will result in over 8 billion results to the query. It’s a common question. There are millions of Self-Help books, life coaches, and self-exploration programs to help people answer this question, yet most of those will fall short.

They will tell people to look within to find the answer. They will say that understanding yourself will bring the answers, that you have a positive self-esteem and love of self. Now to be clear, I am not saying that we shouldn’t want to think positively about ourselves, but the path we choose to identify these answers is crucial.

What I do know, is that when I look within my own heart, I find no answers within myself that will last. I may think I find something, for a while, but it will quickly fade away. I cannot define myself, for I am not from myself. I did not create me. You did not create you. If you want true, meaningful answers to who you are, you have to look to the Creator, to the God of the Bible.

I am amazed at how God speaks to our deepest needs over and over again in the Scriptures. In Genesis we are confronted with the reality that He created the world and made humanity a special creation, in His image and likeness. He created humans to be relational beings, to know Him and be known by Him.

We see that sin entered the world when our first parents, Adam and Eve, rebelled against Him and ate of the forbidden fruit. Immediately upon eating that fruit, shame and guilt filled Adam and Eve. They hid from their Creator, and the struggle began. From that moment, throughout all of human history, we have all struggled to know who we are, what we are supposed to be, and what we are supposed to do.

Sin disrupts. It destroys. It causes confusion and chaos. Since we are all sinners (Romans 3:23; Isaiah 53:6), we are all confused and searching for answers. Thankfully our Creator has not given up on us, but has clearly spoken in His Word and through His Son. So let’s look to His Word for guidance:

Read Psalm 139

Lord You Know Me – Psalm 139:1-6

If you ever asked the questions, “who am I?” then this psalm is for you. King David starts off recognizing that God knows who he is, better than he knows himself. He recognizes that God is the LORD, the almighty Creator. He sees that God knows the number of His days, what he’s going to do, where he’s going to go and what he will say before he even says it.

Who else can claim these truths? Nobody! David is overwhelmed by this line of thinking and recognizes it is too big for him to comprehend. It’s a wonderful truth that the Creator knows and cares about you.

God knows the numbers of your days. He knows what you’ve been going through. He knows the disappointments in your life, the failed expectations and the hardships. He also knows what’s around the corner, what is coming in your future and He has plans for you (Jeremiah 29:11). If you want answers, He is the one you need to go to.

Think about it, He has already searched your heart, your thoughts and you past, and He still loves you!

Lord You Are With Me – Psalm 139:7-12

David then recognizes that there is no escaping God’s presence. This can at first sound like he is running from God and can’t get away, but that’s not it at all. Rather, he is finding comfort in the presences of God. No matter how dark the days get, no matter how much he falls, God is there. Always watching, always waiting for him to cry out.

God never promises that life will be easy. He never promises that you will have all the answers. But He does promise to be with you and to work all things together for you ultimate good (Romans 8:28). I say ultimate good because we are prone to think of good in relation to our current self (desires, wishes, appetites). God sees beyond our current self, past the lies we tell ourselves, and through the masks we wear. He is working all things for what we are intended to be in relationship with Him.

Lord You Made Me – Psalm 139:13-16

These are some of the most precious words ever penned. You are no accident. God didn’t make a mistake making you. God intended for you to be you. He intimately knows you and formed you. You may feel like a mistake and feel worthless, but God doesn’t make junk.

You are fearfully and wonderfully made by the God of the universe and loves you. He desires for you to know Him and understand how He feels about you. He is not some cosmic killjoy waiting to thwart your desires. He is a loving Father who desires your best. He knows you are a sinner and yet He still has made provisions for you.

Lord You Saved Me – Psalm 139:17-22

David recognizes that God sees things differently and thinks on a grander scale then he can even imagine. This doesn’t bring fear and trepidation in him, but excitement and wonder. He knows God is for him and desires his greatest good.

David prays that God will destroy his enemies. The wicked people who were after him and preventing him from experiencing peace. We too have an enemy who is trying to destroy us, the enemy of our souls (John 10:10). We are in desperate need of help because our sin problem is bigger than we can handle.

David had trust in and found comfort in God, knowing He would deliver him. What David didn’t know is how God was going to bring deliverance, not just for David, but for the whole world. But God provided a way (Ephesians 2:4-6) though His Son, Jesus Christ.

                      

When you’re looking for meaning in life, you cannot find a greater answer than the one who loves you so much He was willing to die for you (Romans 5:8). He willingly took your place, took your sin and freely offers His righteousness to you (2 Corinthians 5:21). And even when you fail Him, He will always forgive you when you turn to Him (1 John 1:9).

Jesus gives you the answers you are looking for. He is the one who created you. He is the one who has called you. He is the one who has plans for you (Ephesians 2:10). In Christ, you are the child of God. You are the ambassador of God. You are His masterpiece.

Do you know Jesus? Are you following Him? Are you spending time with Him in His Word?

Lord You Keep Me – Psalm 139:23-24

When we know that God knows us, is with us, made us, and saved us, we can have confidence that he will keep us. David prayed a prayer to invite God to search out his heart and see what sins he had that would prevent him from fully experiencing the presence of God. It’s a scary prayer from a human stand point. It’s inviting our secrets to be exposed.

But knowing who God is, what He has done through Jesus Christ, how much He loves us, it isn’t scary at all. It should be comforting to know that praying this prayer is inviting God to clean house and bring us even closer to Him.

1 Corinthians 1:8–9

The Lord will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.