As surely as I valued your life today, so may the Lord value my life and deliver me from all trouble.
1Samuel 26:24 NIV
Last week I made a trip to IKEA, a Swedish furniture store, with my daughter to buy something in the fabric section. While I looked at a piece, my daughter said, “Look” There’s Hannele!” When I looked blank, she pointed. “Look at that fabric, the turquoise one… Over there. And you can even get it in white.”
I saw two bales of fabric labeled “Hannele.” It is a well-known fact that IKEA gives all its products Scandinavian names, but I had never come across a Hannele. I looked at the fabric with interest. It looked good and had a nice pattern. But at the moment I had no use for Hannele.
The Hannele fabric cost € 4,60 per meter, and since then I’ve been brooding over the question of whether or not I could calculate my own worth in euros: length times price = € 7,18. What worries me about this calculation? That the sum is so cheap? And if the material had been an expensive brocade with golden threads? The result would have been considerably higher.
Of course, I know that my thoughts were ridiculous. I am no fabric to be bought by the meter, neither beautiful cotton nor brocade. I am a human being whose worth cannot be calculated in this way. And yet I was somehow hurt. My well-hidden insecurity had once more come to the surface. What is my worth?
We all want to feel valuable, in spite of our faults. The Bible tells us that King Saul was pursuing David and wanted to kill him. One night David could have killed Saul (1 Samuel 26) but didn’t because he considered the king’s life to be valuable. David did not want to act on his own behalf but waited for the Lord’s plan to work out to make him the new king. He knew that he was called to this position, and this knowledge gave him mental balance in the difficult situation. Thus he was able to say, “So may the Lord value my life.” This was no self-exaltation but an insight God gave him. In God’s eyes, he was valuable and precious.
The same applies to me: In God’s eyes, I am not just fabric by the meter but a unique piece of art, made by the hand of God, who makes me to be just what He wants me to be. He is still working on me. I am looking forward to seeing what the finished product will be like!
Hannele Ottschofski
Renew, Copyright ©2011 by Review and Herald Publishing Association