Dusty Trails

Just shake it off, that dust from your feet. Simply shake it off.  This concept, from a familiar passage of Scripture, was illuminated by God for me through a Bible Study I am doing with a small group The Scripture is:

¹² Greet a household when you enter it,¹³ and if the household is worthy, let your peace be on it. But if it is unworthy, let your peace return to you.¹⁴ If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that house or town.

(Matt. 10:14-15 HCSB)?

Its context is the sending out of the 70 disciples. The author went on to share how that dust of rejection, if not shaken off, can cling to you and really affect how you walk.

“To be given authorization to shake off rejection and disesteem is no small thing, it helps rescue the servant of Christ from a victim mentality. I get to choose whether or not this rejection accompanies me down the road. I refuse it the right to cling to my feet and affect how I walk. Rejection will not be my co traveler. I’m leaving it right where I found it.”

(Beth Moore, THE QUEST, pg 119)?

Jesus knew His disciples would encounter tough things out on the road. They would either be accepted or rejected. He was sending them out as sheep among wolves, as is stated a little further down in the Scripture passage.

Well, things haven’t changed much over two thousand years later. We are still finding ourselves as sheep among wolves and that dust is still mercilessly clinging to our feet. The dust gets caught in the grooves of our sandals and hardens into hard lumps, causing us to walk unsteady and twist our spiritual ankles. God has me in a fantastic group of believers where I am learning to share freely, just exactly where I am, what kind of dust is still clinging to my feet, and how, by the Grace of God, to shake it off.  If you are not in a group like that, find one. If you need help finding one, leave a reply and I will tell you which ministry I am a part of for that purpose. Let’s pray together about freedom from the rejection we all encounter on our dusty trails.

Dearest Lord Jesus, I have twisted my spiritual ankles many times from all the rejection and misunderstandings I have experienced. I also know that I have caused others to twist their precious ankles, due to my lack of sensitivity to where they are at times.  You are still speaking those words to us who follow You today.

¹⁶ “Look, I’m sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore, be as shrewd as serpents and as harmless as doves.

(Matthew 10:16)

We need You, dearest King, to teach us how to walk amid wolves, while avoiding becoming one ourselves. Teach us what it means to be shrewd as serpents and as harmless as doves.  Keep us close to You, gazing at You and following You step by Step. Thank you for the promise that You, who have begun this good work in each one of us, will be faithful to complete it. (Phil. 1:6) Amen