Who Told You?

Everyone enjoys having his or her mugshot taken, right? In my job at a local clinic, one of my responsibilities is to take pictures of new patients for their dental chart. These pictures sometimes resemble mugshots because they are hastily taken after the patients have just finished mounds of paperwork and are soon to undergo less than pleasant procedures. Basically, these pictures are not glamor shots. During training, my picture was also taken and added to the database. Let’s just say it’s not one that will ever be displayed in our home!

Only a few people on the dental staff will ever see these mugshot pictures, so most patients simply chuckle and move on to the panoramic X-ray machine. However, this week I encountered a particularly downcast woman who saw her picture and sighed heavily. She murmured, “I used to be beautiful. Look at me now.” This comment was not the joking self-deprecation to which I am accustomed. It was also not an attempt to elicit an encouraging or reassuring response from me. I am not sure she even meant for anyone to hear her words. But I did hear her words, and I could not ignore them.

I turned to face this dispirited woman and simply said, “You are beautiful. You were made in the image of God.” There was an immediate change in her demeanor. She stood a little taller, a grin crossed her face, and her eyes lit up. She asked, “Do you really believe that?” I responded in the affirmative, and she continued on with the rest of her appointment with her head held much higher than when she had arrived.

Who told this woman she was no longer beautiful? This question has plagued me for the last couple of days as I have considered similar questions from different angles. Who told you that you are not enough? Who told you that there is no hope for you or your situation? Who told you it is time to give up? All of these questions echo what God asked Adam in the Garden of Eden: “Who told you that you were naked?” (Genesis 3:11)

God’s question comes after Adam and Eve have fallen into sin. The serpent had convinced them to doubt God’s character and follow his advice instead of God’s commands. Following anyone or anything other than God never ends well. We must listen to God’s words to know the truth about who we are. The downcast woman at the clinic needed to hear she has value - not because of any form of external beauty but because she was made in the image of God. When we see ourselves as fearfully and wonderfully made image bearers, we live with dignity and purpose - not for our own glory but for the glory of him who made us. Who told me this wonderful truth? The very Word of God did.

“For you formed my inward parts;

you knitted me together in my mother's womb.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Wonderful are your works;

my soul knows it very well.

My frame was not hidden from you,

when I was being made in secret,

intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw my unformed substance;

in your book were written, every one of them,

the days that were formed for me,

when as yet there was none of them” (Psalm 139:13-16).