Dec 19, 2012
Oh, for crying out loud!
By Leanne Lippincott-Wuerthle
I am far from being a well-studied Bible scholar, but Psalm 139:14 is a verse that I think about quite often.
The New International Version reads, “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”
The New Living Bible states, “Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.”
Back in the 1990s, I traveled to Madison, Wis., with my cousin, Ruth Ann (Nelson) Hess to consult a heart specialist at UW-Hospitals. Ever since 4th grade, I had dealt with a relatively benign but frustrating heart condition that I learned—many years later—was paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia or “PSVT.” This condition often triggered my heart into racing 200 or more beats per minute.
The specialist I met with later performed two ablation procedures (six months apart) that finally eliminated the disorder. (A catheter into my heart allowed heated radio waves to destroy the abnormal electrical pathways.)
While Ruth Ann and I waited in the doctor’s office, we spotted a large, colorful poster on the wall. It was a diagram of the human heart, with all its intricate parts labeled. The drawing was mind-boggling to our untrained medical minds.
That’s when Ruth Ann recited those familiar words: “We are fearfully and wonderfully made.” We both stood there in silent awe for a few moments, looking at the complexity of the human heart while thinking of the awesome God Who formed us in His image.
Some of those same thoughts came to mind again when I viewed all the tests taken before and after my June brain surgery—an MRI, numerous CT scans, and two angiograms. The brain appears as complex as the heart, perhaps more so. How can anyone come to the conclusion there’s no divine, Master Creator?
In her devotional book Jesus Calling, Sarah Young writes as if Jesus is speaking to us:
“I created your brain with capacity to know Me as Friend and Lord simultaneously. The human mind is the pinnacle of My creation, but so few use it for its primary purpose—knowing Me. Only humans are capable of receiving Me and responding to My Presence. You are indeed fearfully and wonderfully made!”
The complexity of the God-created human body even extends to something as outwardly simple as tears. Actually, there are three kinds of tears:
Basal tears form continuously, but we don’t experience them as visible tears because they don’t “ball up.” Instead, every time we blink, our eyelids spread the basal solution over the surface of our eyeballs, keeping them lubricated and damage-free.
Irritant or reflex tears have the same components as basal tears and also protect the eyes. However, since they’re designed to break down and eliminate “intruders” like dust, these tears tend to flow in greater amounts and probably contain a concentration of chemicals that target micro-organisms.
Emotional tears come in moments of intense feeling, with tears of happiness and sadness differing chemically. Emotional tears secrete many more proteins than other kinds of tears. These proteins are hormones that build up to very high levels when the body is under emotional stress.
If these chemicals weren’t discharged, they would weaken the body’s immune system. So, it’s physically healthy to cry since this can reduce levels of stress hormones.
Some of the proteins in emotional tears are also associated with physical pain. So crying can even help reduce pain. When people are clinically depressed and unable to shed emotional tears, it hinders their ability to get rid of pent-up stress. Thus weeping is an important stage in the healing process.
We truly are God’s wonderfully-made creations!