As children of God, we sometimes forget that although God is on our side, the hard times will still come every now and then. It’s like you’re down and life is just moving along and all you seem to get is the dust left behind. I’m sure I’m not alone when I say I’ve been through some dusty times. You try your best to get up off the ground and move forward, but you find yourself down again, and you start to wonder when God is going to stop looking down from up there and do something. Or maybe you’ve been waiting on something for a while, and you feel like you’ve been collecting dust. It just seems like you can’t get past the stage you’re in, so you’re stuck there, collecting one speck of dust at a time, waiting for the day you can shake it off of you and move forward.
What I find interesting about this whole ‘dust’ concept, is that to God, dust doesn’t have to be something bad. In fact, something very good can come from it.
You see when we turn – or scroll – to Genesis, when God created humans in His image and likeness on the sixth day (Gen. 1:26), and then took a look at eeevvverything He created (which was already deemed good (Gen. 1: 10, 12,18, 21,25). Once He placed us in the midst of it all, things were more than good, they were very good. Now some of you may be wondering, what in the world does that have to do with this dust I was talking about?
In Genesis 2:7, God created Adam, a human being that was a very good creation in the eyes, but what this verse shows us is that that very good thing was formed from the dust. I’ll wait while you let that sink in …
If God could create man from dust, and see what was formed as very good, then God can bring something very good into fruition from the dust that’s on you. Whenever we’ve gone through a rough time, when we’re on the other side of it, we look back at where we were, and we can most certainly say that we came out better than we did going into it.
Despite the way it may seem, you can be encouraged by the fact that God will see you through. That door will open and you’ll be able to shake that dust off and walk right in it. You’ll be able to get up, get that dirt off your shoulder *insert Jay-Z voice here*, and get back to making moves. You’ll be newly refined and ready for what God has in store for you. Don’t be discouraged by the dust, but rather, look at it as evidence that God is doing something. After all, sometimes it takes a bit of mess to make something that was worth it in the first place. Trust God as He refines your heart, while building your faith, and prepares your next. Only very good things are to come!
