God’s Masterpiece

Have you ever had one of those moments in the early morning where you feel like God wants to tell you something? I experienced that this morning.

The baby was up, so I fed him around 4:30am. I had this heavy feeling to NOT go back to sleep right away, like I needed to seek the Lord. I was exhausted because that was the second time my son woke me up from sleep to feed, but I couldn’t shake it. I opened my Bible app and read today’s devotional. It was one of my favorite bible verses.

Ephesians 2:10.

” For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” -NIV

“For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”-NLT

I’ve always loved this verse because it shows the details of God in our lives- that He has a plan and purpose for us to walk in. He has planned good works for us in advance to do for His glory and His kingdom. But I missed a crucial part of this; which is what he showed me this morning.

I was reading the NLT version and my eyes were fixed on the word “masterpiece” and I felt the nugde to look up that word.

Masterpiece is defined as “a work of outstanding, artistry, skill, or workmanship.” Similarly, handiwork is defined as “something that one has made or done.” Then I decided to do a little digging. The KJV version says we are his workmanship. In the greek, the word is defined as “a thing made, a work, workmanship. From poieo; a product.”

I never really paid attention to this detail, but we are a product of God’s hand and work in us so that we can walk in the good works He has for us, all to bring souls into His kingdom, show the redemption of God, and to bring God glory. I think sometimes we can get confused by the circumstances we’re in and wonder where God is. I know there have been times in my walk with the Lord after prayer and obedience it felt like my cirucmstances were falling apart. God, however, cares more about our sanctification and our heart than our comfort. God does deep work in those circumstances to show us what’s truly in our heart, any idols we have, and our level of trust in/dependence on God.

How cool; sometimes when it feels like things are falling apart, if we love the Lord and are surrendered to Him we can trust He’s working all things out for us. There was a time where I felt I did nothing but obey but it felt like God had left me. He told me “I’m not doing this to you, I’m doing this for you.” It didn’t make sense to my natural mind because it was uncomfortable and it felt like a bad thing. I’m learning, however, it’s the deep work that God does in us in the valleys where we really are changed- where we really get to know more of His character and nature. It’s then also we have empathy for others, are relatable, and can give others hope as we testify what Christ has done for us. This brings glory to God and gives others hope for redemption that can only be found in Christ.

Then later in my morning quiet time, I read Jeremiah 64:8 “And yet, O Lord, you are our Father.
We are the clay, and you are the potter. We all are formed by your hand.”

Part of being God’s masterpiece, his workmanship, his handiwork- is allowing Him to strip and prune us, to chisel at our rough edges, and even at times, to break us so we have no choice but to fully surrender and cry out to Him. What a beautiful work He does in that. If you are going through this now, please be encouraged!