Just Dust

“…He is mindful that we are but dust.” –Psalm 103:14

This is not typically a verse referenced for comfort. At first glance, it is not inspiring or encouraging. However, over the years it has become a source of strength for me. It has leveraged me into joy when I have felt defeated.

The Lord highlighted this verse to me after a difficult marriage moment. If you are married, you have had those moments. You said what you shouldn’t have said. You reacted the way you shouldn’t have reacted. All in all, you just failed. I sat in my car in the grocery store parking lot feeling the awkwardness of not knowing how to proceed next. I wasn’t the only one at fault, so my pride kept blocking the humility to which I knew the Lord desired of me. I didn’t want to be prideful, but there I sat, full to the brim of pride. I was mad at myself for feeling that way. I was mad at myself for being, well, for being human.

I opened the scripture to a familiar passage, Psalm 103, in hopes that God could transform my human heart to look more like His. This verse might as well have leaped off the page and into my heart. “For He knows how weak we are. He is mindful that we are but just dust.”

Do you know that God knows you are human? Do you know that he is not surprised by your limitations? Do you he is not ashamed or embarrassed by you when you fail? Do you know that He fully remembers that you only exist because His breath breathed life in to dirt?

If you are holding your own humanness over your head like a cloud of shame, can I challenge you to release that to your Creator? Friend, He is well aware of your shortcomings. He is well aware that our only hope is the His perfection is glorified in our humanness.

You are not a liability to your God. You are His greatest JOY. He picked up a handful of dirt and saw that your life was beautiful and necessary on this earth. Never will we see a day that he cannot take our imperfections and work them for the greater good of His name and for our good. He will always and forever make good out of dirt.

Father God, remind me who I am. I am weak and small. But weakness and smallness is when you are magnified in me. In Jesus name, Amen.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

• Mysti Chustz has been following Jesus since she was six years old.
• She is a wife, mother, daughter, sister, aunt, and friend. Her most favorite roles are being wife to Philip and mama to Coleman, Mary Lamar, and Clay.
• If one verse was used to describe her life, it would be Philippians 1:6. “Be confident of this, the One who starts the work in you is faithful to complete the work in you.”