The Dust of our Lives
phoenix dust storm C katu.com
Dust: Those little balls under the bed. That gray film covering my dresser. That "haboob" rolling across Phoenix.
And you and I.
God made us from dust. And He says that He remembers that we are just dust (Ps 103:14). In Psalm 136:23, He tells us that he remembers our lowness. How encouraging to know that God understands how truly weak we are!
SIGNS OF OUR DUSTNESS
Signs or our "dustness" are everywhere: We are selfish, inadequate, complaining, proud, sinful. Far more often than we would like, we are guilty of things like envy, gossip, grumbling, lust, anger, unkindness, lying, lack of love, lack of faith....
When I dust in my house—occasionally—I sometimes use a feather duster. That certainly makes the surfaces look better, but in reality it only moves the dust around. If I really want to get things clean, I need to take some Old English polish, truly remove the dust, and make things shine.
I'm sure God doesn't even bother with a feather duster on us; He wants to really remove the dirt and make us shine.
I have an awesome tile floor that doesn't show dirt. Nice. But after a while it gets so bad that, when I walk on it, it crunches. So I sweep it up, and the pile of the dusty things going on in our home is amazing.
CLEAN SWEEP
We can be pretty good at camouflage, too, and not let the dirt in our lives show. Sometimes it takes something going "crunch" for us to recognize how much dirt is building up--but God is willing to do a clean sweep when we come to Him for mercy.
Sometimes someone in our home breaks something and makes a really big mess. So I get out my trusty dustpan, sweep it all up, and throw away all the broken pieces.
But God does such a better job: When something in our lives breaks, He comes along, sweeps it all up, and amazingly makes something new and beautiful out of it.
He knows we are dust because He made us from dust. And He is still in the business of taking the dust of our lives and making it into something beautiful for His glory.
cJudyDouglass