Ever heard of that expression, “I know the stuff he’s made of...”? I’m sure you have. And, if we’re honest with ourselves, we’d like to think that the stuff of which we’re made is good, tough, reliable, strong, long lasting, and virtuous. It’s a term we use when talking about the core, the very innermost being of a person.
Well, just like anyone, I have ideas about the stuff of which I’m made. I’d like to think I’m tough and reliable and virtuous... who wouldn’t?! But the other day, I was looking up Psalm 103 and I came across the 14th verse. It speaks to the stuff of which we are all made and it says, “God knows how we are formed, and He remembers that we are dust.” That’s the stuff — dear friend — of which you and I are made. It’s not flattering... but in a way, it is comforting.
For one thing it says, God knows... He knows our frame... He has no illusions about us... and that, thank heavens, means He can’t get dis-illusioned with us. In other words, we are weak, He knows our limitations, He knows what we’re capable and incapable of, He understands the bumbling and stumbling and the faults and failures. God knows! What’s more, He’s got a better more complete picture of our weaknesses than we do.
And this means that we can know the stuff of which He’s made. He will have compassion on us. Because we know the stuff of which He is made! (Or, I should say, we have at least a small inkling.) We know God is compassionate with us dusty beings because of the previous verse. In Psalm 103:13 it says, “As a father has compassion on his children, so does God have compassion on those who fear Him.” And that’s the point. Knowing God... and knowing who we are. And if we are to make good on the stuff of which we’re made, if dust is to be something in which we can boast, then it means coming to the Lord in awe and fear and respect. The more we know Him as He really is... and the more we understand ourselves as we really are... the fact that He’s divine, we’re but dust, then the greater the fear and awe and respect. For our dust will drive us to Him out of desperate need. Gone will be our illusions, our grandiose ideas about our virtues and strength, our goodness and our fine character...
Friend, we are but dust and we desperately need the Lord. Do you know the stuff of which you’re made? Flip to Psalm 103 and at least there you’ll get a good idea of God’s take on you. It won’t be very flattering, it’ll be a little dusty, but it will be comforting.
Used by permission of
JONI AND FRIENDS
P.O. Box 3333
Agoura Hills, CA 93176
© Joni and Friends