“The Dust Will Only Settle”

Sam Stringer

Dec 25, 2024

"Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and He will lift you up."

James 4:10

Have you ever heard the phrase, "Shake the dust off your feet"? I've had numerous good

friends tell me this counsel over the years. Seems so easy and yet so many of us find it difficult

to do just that

God knows it's been one of the harder things I've had to do and keep returning to in my journey.

I remember someone at a Christian counseling conference once asking the question, "What

makes you think you're above your problems?" Sometimes it is our pride that encourages us to

be bitter, to be burned and so forth, in part because we expected "different" or we thought we

were above the things God put on our plate. In no way am I seeking to diminish anyone's

difficulties, certainly not my own, but to appropriate them in God-glorifying ways.

Humility before the Lord is so important. I hope you will see through the avenue of this poem

how this humility can be active in moving forward in some areas you may have felt quite stuck.

I’ve been there, too. It’s how I learned how to write this poem.

“The Dust Will Only Settle”

By S.V. Stringer

The dust will only settle

When you shake it off your feet

Leaving it behind you

On that dark and lonesome street

The dust will only settle

When you wash it all away

Tears arising from your soul

For the past is not to stay

The dust will only settle

When at His feet you bow

Releasing back to Him

What you’ve carried until now

The dust will only settle

When it gets out of your eyes

Distraction from the scars

The old man daily dies

The dust will only settle

When leaning on God

Grace and mercy attending

With peace your feet now shod

The dust will only settle

When you walk away

From carrying a load

Not meant for you today

The dust will only settle

When peace is finally made

That God knew what He was doing

In sunshine and in shade

The dust will only settle

When expectations are not formed

From things you had concocted

Of a life by fire warmed

For into fire it is certain

You shall surely pass

But how you come out

Will be a mirror or will be glass

When people look at us

What will they see?

Will it be more of Jesus

Or just more of me?

The dust will only settle

When we choose to stop

Feeding a pride that says

I’m too advanced to mop

Too seasoned to face such pain

Too mature to be so vain

Too strong to be so weak

Too capable for help to ever seek

Too right to ever be wrong

Too hurried to make apologies long

Too occupied and I so I choose to neglect

Seeking God's glory in favor of my own respect

Too quick to ever be slow

Too informed to ever not know

Too good to be treated so bad

Too confident to ever be sad

Too entitled to ever have to need

To call out to God

To beg and to plead

Too sweet to be so bitter

God why can't you see?

You chose the wrong person

When you laid this all on me

And yet so confused now

As to why it should cling-

This dust on my feet

All places that I bring

Sam Stringer