The Elephant Man: You Knit Me Together (Psalm 139:13-16)

In The Elephant Man, John Merrick suffers severe deformities that make him a carnival freak. Dr. Frederick Treves sees past the exterior to the gentle, intelligent soul within. I am not an animal! I am a human being! Merrick cries. The Psalm says God created our inmost being, knitting us together in our mother's womb. God knit John Merrick. The Psalm does not promise pretty packaging; it promises intentional creation and irreducible worth. Merrick's body was not a divine mistake—his soul was exactly as God intended.