“Know that the Lord, he is God. It is he who made us and we are his. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture.” Psalm 100:3

Many today speak the language of expressive individualism, though they don’t realize it. Phrases like ‘you do you’ and ‘follow your heart’ come from a philosophy that says the most important thing for you to do as a human being is to find your deepest self and then express that fully to the world. Many feel this is the epitome of freedom. But I beg to differ.

I believe real freedom is found in knowing who we are and whose we are. In Genesis 1, God creates the world and everything in it. The pinnacle of his creation is man. Men and women are unique in all creation because we are created in the image of God.

“So God created man in his own image; he created him in the image of God; he created them male and female.” Genesis 1:27

Only mankind was created in this way. Only men and women were created to have a personal relationship with their Creator. Only men and women were given the divine mandate to be fruitful and multiply and have dominion over the earth. Trees are not made in God’s image and neither is your golden retriever. Only mankind was given this privilege. But the further we move away from God, the more we forget where we’ve come from and what our purpose is. No wonder many in our culture feel pressured to define themselves and find their own unique purpose.

But they’re looking in the wrong place.

Most look within themselves to find meaning and purpose, but if we are creatures, then we have a Creator, and it would make sense to look to him for the meaning and purpose we long for.

The Lord is God

Psalm 100:3 urges us to know something. To know that the Lord is God. Do we really need a reminder of this? Yes! If we see in our hearts and lives a consistent tendency to look inside ourselves or out in the world for meaning and purpose, then we have forgotten that the Lord is God. If you look closely in your Bible, the word Lord is in all caps – LORD. Only the Hebrew word Yahweh is written this way. Yahweh is the exclusive covenant name of the only true and self-existent God, the God who revealed himself to Moses as I AM. We are to grasp the truth of this with our whole being. The LORD is God. Only him. Not us and not anyone or anything else.

So how does that knowledge help us as we seek meaning and purpose? It gives us the starting point and it simplifies the issues. If the LORD is God then he alone sets the terms. If the LORD is God, then we should be paying attention to him. I encourage you to take some time to meditate on this truth – the LORD is God.

He Made Us

The next thing we learn from Psalm 100:3 is where we come from. He made us. We are not self-generated. Genesis 2:7 describes how God made Adam: “then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.” Psalm 139 puts it beautifully saying, “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.” What is so special about these passages is how intimate the Lord is in his creation of human beings. He intentionally breathes life into us and deftly knits us together.

Those who create do so with forethought and purpose. They take care to design their creation to function perfectly and properly. Instead of aimlessly looking around or within yourself for purpose, look to your Creator and his Word. A tree and a golden retriever live most fully and freely when they live according to how they’ve been created. The same is true for us.

We are His

My daughter is an artist, and when she creates a piece of artwork, she signs it. Her signature on a painting means something. It means she’s the author and the owner. In the same way God, as our Creator, stamps us with his image, and declares his ownership. Psalm 100:3 says that we are his. We belong to him. Even those who’ve turned away from God, denying his existence, belong to him because at the end of the ages they will have to stand before him and give an account. But those who know God and are known by him not only have meaning and purpose, but they have joy and freedom knowing to whom they belong. And he is a good God. The one who created us takes care of us. Verse 3 says we are the sheep of his pasture. It’s not hard to go from there right to John 10 and Jesus’ words about being the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep.

Unlike the spirit of this age which says the only way to find freedom is to look within, I say look up. Look up to your Creator. Know him, wonder in the knowledge that he created you and if you place your faith in his Son, you belong to him. Knowing that we are his brings real meaning, real purpose, and true freedom.