Did you ever handle a mud dauber's nest? It, like us, is made from the breath and saliva of its maker mixed with a little dusty earth. If a strong hand holds one, it must be tender, or it will crumble. Even when the hand is trying to be careful.
God holds just such a fragile creation in His mighty hand. He knows that we are dust because He made us Himself from the dust of the earth and His own breath. When things happen to us in the natural course of life on this earth, we feel as if we are about to crumble and sometimes ignorantly ask, "Is God doing this to me? Why is He being so hard on me? What have I done to deserve this?"
Don't fool yourself; if God were being hard on you, His mighty hand would make a puff of smoke out of you. No, His hand is holding you, tenderly, surrounding you so that the pulverizing forces of life won't destroy you.
Do you deserve His mercy? Or life's storms? That is beside the point. He loves you—that's all.
He feels deeply sorry that you hurt so. He has removed your transgressions from you and holds you in His hands. He remembers that you are dust. Psalm 103 says it best:
He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. As a father pities his children, so the LORD pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.
