“We can’t always assume the broken pieces of our life circumstances are terrible and pointless – not with our God.” Lysa Terkeurst Seeing Beautiful Again (23)

This was in the devotional I read this morning by Lysa Terkeurst. She goes on to talk about dust and the pottery process and how something new can be created from the dust and pieces of something broken. She mentions this choice of our Lord’s, of the dust as his material for creating the first human, and it caused me to ponder . . .

Genesis 2:7 Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

Our God could have created the first human from anything. He could have created Adam from diamonds, or gold, or beautiful blue ocean water. Instead, he used DUST. He created us out of the seemingly most insignificant and overlooked material on earth. The dust from the dirt under our feet.

Why did He do this? What are we supposed to know about our existence from this one choice by our God during our creation? We have all heard the ole’ dust to dust saying – we are supposed to know that we will return to dust at the end of our lives and return to the earth from which we came. But isn’t there more than that? Yes, we will all die but we are all living now – we are living, descended from the almost nothingness of dust that God breathed life into.

If he can turn that little dirt cloud into a whole living, thinking, breathing, human man, he can take the crumbling messes in my life and raise them up into something glorious. And my messes, the dust from dreams I was forced to give up, relationships ended, and other situations that I would rather not be experiencing – these are such minor dust devils when I look at my life as a whole. I mean, I know I am fortunate in so many ways. . .

But that is not the point.

We all have pieces of our lives that turn to dust before us and your burden and my burden may look very different. But, no matter what you consider your crumbling mess, I ask you to remember – A WHOLE HUMAN MAN. OUT OF DUST. WITH ONE BREATH.

So, there ya go.

We live in a fallen world where we cannot avoid heartache and pain from broken dreams, death, or other life circumstances. Our God is one of love and He makes our dust his playground – building us back up with one beautiful Godly breath – sometimes it just takes a great distance to see the loveliness he forms – if we get to see it at all. We just have to trust in Him. He has promised He has a plan for us and all we have to do is just follow.

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Romans 8:28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.