He Remembers We Are Dust

Psalms 103:13-14 NIV

As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;
for he knows how we are formed,
he remembers that we are dust.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but there are days, especially lately, where I reach the end of the day bone tired. Not the well-earned, honest-work kind of tired. It’s the sapped-dry, reached-my-limit, culture stress sort of tired. The kind that comes in times of severe mental and emotional stress, intellectually demanding tasks, or uncertainty. Times like we’re walking through right now.

As I was spending time with the Lord this week my heart and mind were pulled back to a Psalm I memorized with my brother in a time I had more sapped-tired days than good ones. It was Psalm 103.  It’s a poem written by David, all about God’s compassion - both to sinners, and to just plain-old frail human beings. The origin of the word “compassion” is the Latin word “compati” which literally means to “suffer with” (Oxford dictionary). God’s compassion springs not from a detached pity, but instead from an empathetic experience of “suffering with”. I especially appreciate that God is not like some unaware, superior, ultra-marathoner steaming ahead as we gasp and stumble in the background. He hasn’t forgotten who and what we are, what we are capable of, our limits, what we can handle. No. He remembers our frailty, and instead of scolding us for it or leaving us behind in the dust, he gently comes along side and has compassion - suffers with - you and I as we struggle forward.

Dear friends, right now things are crazy, emotional, stressful, and uncertain. It hurts. It’s exhausting. But God has not forgotten that we’re fragile and he has not forsaken us and he never will. Psalm 103:17 says, “But from everlasting to everlasting the LORD’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children.”