Fearfully and wonderfully made – A walk through an Anatomy Museum.
5You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.13For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well {Psalms 139:5-6;13-14}
I had the privilege of studying at one of most prestigious Universities in my country. An institution home to various educational disciplines and with the finest, state of the art equipment available for students pursuing higher studies. My University is also home to the Manipal Museum of Anatomy & Pathology (MAP), a remarkable building holding thousands of human specimens of every part and every system in the body. “Billed as one of the largest in Asia, the museum boasts of over 3,000 specimens and samples of things anatomical, including the skulls of an elephant and a whale, and the long skeleton of a King Cobra.” – MAP Webpage.
It’s hard to explain in words, but walking through the hallways of MAP is a surreal and humbling experience. It is a like theatre, putting on display the things of the human body that are hidden away from our own eyes, deep within the coat of our skin. It’s an exhibit that lays bare before one’s eyes what is meant to be hidden and unseen.
Gazing at some of the specimens – a dissected display of the human forearm and hand, skin taken back to expose the veins, arteries, tendons, and muscle found therein. You can try and go through the labelled structures packed together with great intricacy. You go on marveling the ‘force‘ that put all this in place, but it’s not long before you are overcome by the overwhelming awe and astounding complexity of this structure. You can’t look at it for long, its almost unbearable to behold the glory of God on display right before your eyes.
Walking through that museum has always left me with the sense of the exhilarating reality of the majesty of God. The weight of His glory that we cannot bear, marking every corridor. Walking through the fetal specimens section makes it even harder. You get see all stages of fetal life on display, even an embryo still attached to the uterine wall with all its fragile yet life-giving connections, carefully preserved. You look at it with wonder, awe and amazement but you can’t escape its witness to the creator of life. Life, which is fragile yet extraordinary. It is He himself, who preserves it in us by His grace.
Walking onward you come across a specimen with a fully grown human baby, his face hidden away from you, still nestled inside its mother’s womb. That is life on display. If I remember correctly, this specimen was isoltaed from the body of a pregnant mother, who had been in a car accident. You feel the lump in your throat. This hall seems to be laden heavily with the immense burden of the “fearfully and wonderfully made” creation of God. The LORD’S wonderful work is on display, and you find yourself slowly sinking under the weight of His glory.
15 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.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be. {Psalms 139: 15-16}The visit to the museum was often a reminder of the weight of God’s glory which is no man can bear. I’ve certainly felt that. The Bible says that God dwells in an unapproachable light, where we sinful, selfish, greedy, jealous and lustful humans cannot venture in, unless we are covered in the shade of God’s almight Son – Jesus Christ.