Dust

We returned to Delhi the summer of 2012 and all I could see was the dust.  It coated every leaf on every tree. It covered all surfaces outside and inside. A thorough cleaning of our apartment yielded little evidence of the hard work. A few hours later I was wiping off another fine layer of the stuff. 

Widespread dust

It was a grey-brown world. One morning when I looked up the weather on my phone, the forecast read “115 degrees. Widespread dust.”  I wrote in my journal the words of the psalmist. “My life is down in the dust; give me life through Your word” (Psalm 119:25 HCSB).

To be honest, there was more going on than just the physical dust.  We had recently left our second daughter in the United States. Two of our children were now an ocean away from us. I was grieving. The dusty air was a graphic reflection of my dusty spirit.

Dust and the Word

One day I sat down at my writing desk for some time alone with the Lord. I wrote in my journal the Scripture reference from my Bible reading plan. Psalm 102. Then started reading. I came to verses 12-14.

“But You, Lord, are enthroned forever;
Your fame endures to all generations.
You will rise up and have compassion on Zion,
For it is time to show favor to her—the appointed time has come.
For Your servants take delight in its stones
And favor its dust.” (Psalm 102:12-14 HCSB)

Favor. Its. Dust. No kidding.  I laughed out loud.

The next day my reading was Psalm 103 and I read verses 13-14:

“As a father has compassion on his children,
So the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.
For He knows what we are made of,
Remembering that we are dust.”

Sitting in my dusty chair at my dusty desk, I thanked God for His sense of humor. I felt known by my heavenly Father.  Loved.

Daily abiding

Abiding in Christ through prayer and the Word is essential in my daily walk with Him. It’s a discipline, a habit.  And the older I get, the more I crave this time of drawing near to my Lord for relationship and sustenance. For the unadulterated truth of Scripture. I hunger for His voice, for mystery revealed.

That summer of 2012, abiding in Him did not change the dust in our city. It was just as dusty as ever until the monsoon rains came.

But it did change my heart.

It gave me eyes to see the dust from a different perspective.

And He gave me a new song (see pdf file of “Maker of the Dust” lyrics in Resources; also video at this link: Maker of the Dust )

“But I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the end, he will stand on the dust” (Job 19:25).

What about you?

How’s the weather in your life? Any widespread dust?  Are you daily abiding in Christ through prayer and the Word?