The Gift Of Life - Celebrating God's Gifts Series

OPEN: Bob Hope was one of the great comedian of the last century. As he was getting along in years, he once commented that he’d been reading and was astonished to discover:

“Today my heart beat over 103,000 times,

my blood traveled 168 million miles,

I breathed 23,400 times,

I inhaled 438 cubic feet of air, ate 3 pounds of food, and drank 2.9 pounds of liquid,

I perspired 1.43 pints… gave off 85.3 degrees of heat… generated 450 tons of energy,

I spoke 4,800 words, I moved 750 major muscles,

and I exercised 7 million brain cells.

(pause…) It’s no wonder I’m tired all the time.”

APPLY: (pause…) Augustine once said, "People travel to wonder at the height of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars -- and they pass by themselves without wondering."

I. Augustine was right.

Most of don’t realize how intricate and wondrous our bodies really are. I did some reading recently, and I was amazed at the uniqueness and intricateness of our bodies.

ILLUS: For example: In a square inch of skin, you would find:

20 blood vessels;

65 muscles;

78 nerves;

78 sensors for heat, 13 for cold, 160 for pressure;

650 sweat glands;

1300 nerve endings;

and 19,500,000 cells.

The skin serves several purposes including providing a protective shield against bacteria and viruses and the absorbing of bumps and bruising that might otherwise damage your bones and internal organs.… and in that inch of skin, your sweat glands in your body do double duty, helping to eliminate wastes and cool your body.

Then, there’s your brain which weighs about three pounds, but stores 100 trillion bits of information over the course of 70 years. That storage capacity is roughly equal to 500,000 sets of the Encyclopedia Britannica (which, if stacked, would stretch out over 442 miles). Your brain does all this and uses less power than a 100-watt bulb.

Your brain is serviced by about 45 miles of nerves that send impulses through your body as rapidly as 325 miles per hour. Your nervous system is so sensitive you are able to feel on your fingertips (or face) a pressure that depresses your skin a bare .00004 (400,000’s) inch - roughly the weight of a bee’s wing falling on your cheek.

Then, there’s your ears: A piano has 88 keys, but each of your ears has a keyboard with 1500 keys. They are so finely tuned that you can hear the blood running through your vessels.

Your eyes are capable of seeing a small candle flame from 30 miles away on a clear, dark night. And can distinguish among more than 300,000 different color variations

Your nose can smell one drop of perfume diffused through a 3 room apartment.

David wrote: “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” Psalms 139:14

Now… I’m sure David didn’t realize all of the facts I’ve just related about our bodies when he penned this psalm. Maybe he was out watching the sheep and happened to glance down at his hands and notice how intriguing they were. I’m not sure… but I do know that something about his body caused him, not only to remark on how fearfully and wondrously made it was, but also to say this: “My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was WOVEN TOGETHER in the depths of the earth…” Psalms 139:15

David was so impressed with the wonder of God’s gift of life that he spoke of it as being “woven together” and here he was using the imagery of a craftsman who skillfully weaves a beautiful & colorful tapestry.

What David is basically saying is this: “I didn’t just happen… I am not an accident… I have value… I have worth

II. Now, David arrives at this conclusion… because he first focused on God

Look again at the first few verses of Psalm 139

“O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.

Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD. You hem me in— behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.” (Psalm 139:1-6)

Now, remember…

David arrived at his conclusion (that he was a valuable individual) because he recognized that he was created by God. It was God that gave his life value. It was God who gave him worth.