Do You Feel Like Dirt?

As I have gotten older, It has been getting harder and harder to sleep though the night without interruption. Sometimes I long for the days of being a teenager when I could go to bed at 11:00pm and sleep till noon and not be awoken by anything — even my mom’s early morning calls to join the family for breakfast.

Over many restless nights, one of the themes that I have picked up on is how our spiritual enemy seizes upon, and at times creates, my restlessness as an opportunity to implant thoughts into my mind and spirit. Seldom are my late-night introspections good thoughts. Rather, they seem to take me to some of the worsts moments of my life and proceed to recite back a twisted spin of the events — all with basically this accusatory message of, “You suck. You are nothing. You are dirt.”

When I was a kid, when we wanted someone to feel terrible, we would say that they WERE DIRT, MAYBE EVEN LOWER THAN DIRT.

This dirt is something we can all relate to.  Have you ever felt like dirt?  Lower than low?  Worthless?  Beaten Down?  Of course you have.  Maybe you feel like dirt today.  Maybe someone said something or did something to you that crushed you into the ground.  Maybe you said something or did something and you feel covered with filth.

If so, I know something about you. That same enemy that comes to me in the middle of the night, is coming for you as well. He’s coming with his interpretation of those things. He’s defiantly reinforcing those thoughts of nothingness.

In Revelation 12 we get a glimpse into the end of days and in the revealing of those days, we get a definition of our enemy as “the accuser”.

Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Anointed One have come. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who relentlessly accuses them day and night before our God, has been cast down and silenced.

The first level of his assault always comes to us in the form of his spin on your life.  His interpretation of events.  The way he tries to distort things. At the level of accusation— those sneering thoughts that are so familiar to you that you think they are coming from your own heart.  That sneer, “You’ll never be good enough.”  “It is too late for you.”

—that lie that says “You are dirt. You are nothing.”

If you are there. Let me share some truth with you that we can all claim as our own.

One day, a woman who was caught in the very act of adultery was thrown onto the ground before Jesus, covered by nothing but a bed sheet, her shame, and the dirt of the ground.  Surrounded by an outraged community armed with stones, she kept her eyes down.  Jesus said, “Let him who is without sin throw the first stone.”  

Then he stooped down and WROTE IN THE DIRT. 

After he did, one by one her accusers dropped their stones and walked away.

On another occasion, Jesus encountered a blind man. As he did, he spit into the dirt and made mud with it and applied it to the man’s eyes.  He then told the man to go wash it off and when he did, his blindness had been washed away as well.  He could see!

The truth for all of us is this:
 

Dirt + Jesus = the Miraculous.

Here’s the deal. 

We may be gripped with fear. We may be feeling the full force of accusation. Lying in the dirt with thoughts of, “I blew it. I did something to bring this on. I am such a loser. God can never use me. I will never be set free.”

I am dirt. I am nothing.

But there is another message and it can come to you at any time and anywhere. It is a message that Jesus wants you to hear — and it what is really true about you. “You are amazing. I believe in you. You are set free. You are an overcomer. I am with you. Nothing will overtake you.”

You see, our destiny does not have to be set by the accusing thoughts of our enemy. Our freedom… our hope lies in Jesus.

Dirt + Jesus = the Miraculous.