Ground in the dirt.
Smashed on a rock
Splintered beyond recognition.
Dust.
Is that how you feel? Does your heart feel like there is nothing left and that your heart is falling like wheat to the ground and the rest of your heart is disintegrating like chaff; crumbling and blowing away -nothing but dust in the wind.
Yeah, I feel like that too sometimes.
In those times, I wonder how God is going to put this puzzle back together when half the pieces are gone. It’s not even about finding the pieces fallen to the floor, they got chewed up by the dog, swept up in the turmoil of the broom and burned in the fires of pain. They just don’t exist anymore.
The Back Story (Genesis 2:5-7)
This is how it went down, when God made the earth and heavens. Oddly enough, there was no shrubs or baby plants growing up yet. God was logical, he didn’t allow them to grow because 1. He had not sent the rains yet and 2. There were no workers (a.k.a. Humans to tend the garden). God took care of the first issues first by having the streams flood the whole earth to give the earth a good soak. The streams and rivers receded.
God took care of the second issue by making people. Here is the important part for today: God made man, from the dust of the ground. But that didn’t create life, at least not yet. It was the moment when he breathed into the first man, Adam, basically God kissed Adam. Now, don’t get sketched out by that. It’s no different than a mama kissing their newborn baby. I can tell you, from experience that it’s one of the first things that a new mama wants to do. Be close. Kiss. Be with! God is no different. It was that kiss, that created life in Adam. And he became a living being, it woke up his mind, his senses, and all that God intended for him to be.
Thoughts
In a word – just a word, God created stuff – everything. In a word He started something out of nothing.
That’s one of His great talents.
Making something out of nothing.
Hmmm…
Sound familiar?
Dust-being-blown-away-like-chaff-in-the-wind-kind-of-nothing?
Your-heart-being-chewed-up-by-….kind-of-nothing?
Your-heart-being-swept-up-by-the-turmoil-of-…kind-of-nothing?
Your-heart-being-burned-up by-…kind-of-nothing?
My heart understands. And in places like that, I know we (maybe it’s just me) wonder if I understand my world correctly. (that’s putting it politely). What I’m REALLY wondering is if God is in charge. I’m wondering is, if He IS in charge, why am I in such a hard place right now? In this dust-season of my life, I am rarely wondering if He loves me. Weird, but true. I’ve bumped up against that question before but right now, I am mostly wondering if He will move on my behalf, take care of me and walk me out of the fire, through to the other side. Maybe you wonder the same thing.
When we are in our ultimate out-of-sorts moments, we really can’t make heads or tails of what is going on in our world and up turns to down and A turns to Z. BUT, it doesn’t have to stay that way. I am learning to ask for help. King David said it this way when he was in trouble:
Did you hear that, my darling? Just because I am / you are reduced to dust, doesnt’ mean that God isn’t working. It means that He is making all things new.
Read it again:
Your broken heart – NEW!
Your blown-up mind – NEW!
Your desctructive thought patterns – NEW!
Your emotional pits – filled in – and made NEW!
YES, this IS possible.
YES, HE does work on our behalf.
YES, He IS trustworthy.
This is what King David finishes the SAME chapter by saying this:
Let me be an english teacher for a moment. The first part of what David wrote was in current tense, meaning it was RIGHT NOW. The second part of the SAME chapter was written in past tense, meaning it happened and the reader was looking back, when he said “whom you have” (not “will” -which would be future, or “are”- which would be current). He wrote “have delivered” – which is the past tense. This means, I suspect, that king David is praising God in advance, seeing his deliverance in his deep heart, as a promise from God for the future.
What promises have been ripped up, broken down or burned alive? What promises have turned into dust?
Don’t be afraid.
Don’t despair.
God has NOT forgotten you. He has NOT abandoned you. He is VERY MUCH in control and in full-care of you and your situation. As close as a mama and a newborn. As close as he was to Adam in the garden. But sometimes, first things need to happen first. God allowed the streams to swell to water the ground BEFORE he made Adam to tend that garden.
Hang tight.
Trust God’s timing, His loving nature, His amazing wisdom and His supreme power. Yes, this is YOUR Heavenly Father and He is FOR YOU, not against you!
