The physical world we live in has its origination in the spiritual world. This is purposeful. God has made our physical world and much of it represents the spiritual.
In Psalm 139:13-15 (NIV) we read,
1 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
2 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
3 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.
Three Hebrew words in verse 13 are important for this discussion; 1) Kilyah means the innermost parts, or innermost being. It is used to describe both the kidneys and the mind because the ancients knew of the mind-gut connection. Kilyah is our deepest parts; 2) Beten is the Hebrew word for womb, belly, body, and again, “innermost being” because kilyah and beten are connected and sometimes used interchangeably. But beten particularly includes the unseen depths of the spirit of a person, male or female; and, 3) Cakak means to cover, protect, join or knit together, to overshadow, or completely shut in.
Verse 13 uses the imagery of a mother’s womb to emphasize God’s presence in that Secret Place and His intimate planning and shaping every facet of our being: our spirit, soul, and body, and our particular giftings, dreams, and passions. He is our Creator and He there with us, in our mother’s womb.
A mother’s womb is the physical representation of spiritual womb. A womb is a hidden and mysterious Secret Place where form and shape and an explosion of life is taking place. This happens in the Secret Place, the place we meet privately with God. He touches and changes us there in the Secret womb-like Place.
Verse 15 reads, “I was made in the secret place.” Here secret place is cether, the masculine noun form of sathar from yesterday’s blog on Psalm 91:1, where sathar means a covering, a secret place, to be in hiding, or to be hidden and kept safe under a cover or a shelter… like a womb.
The Secret Place is the place of making, the place of transformation, where we are formed and shaped and become more like Jesus through intimate, personal contact with Him. And we receive more and more of His resurrection life within us the more we prioritize time with Him in the Secret Place.
Jesus said the reason He came was so that we might have “life and have it abundantly,” or “life… to the full” (John 10:10, ESV, NIV). His life in us is explosive, it’s transformational.
If you struggle to understand this, or lack this kind of explosive life in you, begin to spend time with Jesus everyday. Start a new habit of spending 30 minutes a day singing to Him, talking, listening, reading the Word. Maybe build to an hour. You will be building your own Secret Place, a place you go to meet with Him, hidden away from everything and everyone, to prioritize Him.
You will quickly find this secret womb-like, hidden place is where God-dreams are conceived, given life, developed, and birthed. And He will make His many mysteries known to you because He loves to share Himself, lavishly, with His friends… in the Secret Place.
