To be Known and Remembered: Reflections on Psalm 103:14

Sometimes a verse from the Bible jumps out at me and I know I need to journey with it. I’ve always loved Psalm 103, but verse 14 recently spoke to me in a fresh way: “for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.” Immediately before the Psalmist had reassured us “As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him” (v13).

While there is some Hebrew parallelism at play in “he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust” when the poet essentially repeats a sentiment for emphasis, I was struck by the thought that we are “formed… dust” and that we are known and remembered.

Formed dust! It’s an interesting idea. Usually we think of dust as that which sneaks in uninvited and which we will sweep out of existence on one of our better cleaning days. But echoing Gen 2:7 this verse insists that God knows and remembers what he made us from (dust) and how he intentionally formed it into being. It is not a mistake that you and I are vulnerable dust like beings. That is how we were formed. Rather than shaking a fist at our frailty we should finds ways to welcome it, and to marvel at what has been formed from it. We are modest creatures, capable of much, but also prone to sudden collapse. Formed dust – only holding together by the narrowest of margins, able to be blown into non-formation by a slight breeze or a subtle change of circumstance.

It is also that we are known and remembered. It’s not saying exactly the same thing. It is one thing to know something, another to remember it. I know many things – they are buried away somewhere in the recesses of my mind and I am able to retrieve them after sufficient eye crinkling and enough muttering of “I know that, I know that – give me a moment, it will come”. Remembering is different. It is front of brain. Just like that, it is with me.

To be known and remembered is to not only belong “somewhere” in the wide expanse of God’s knowledge, it is to be front of knowledge – right before God – in God’s current awareness. True, we could argue that because God is God all knowledge is current, but let’s not become so pedantic that we miss the magnitude of what is being said. God is aware of you right now! God remembers you right now.

But there is more. What is it that God remembers about us right now? God remembers that we are formed dust. God knows our frailty, and, as v13 assures us, responds to it as a loving father. God knows that we could easily disintegrate into nothingness – into non-formation. As a loving father, God does not allow this. The promise is essentially: “Take heart. I know your frailty. I remember it right now. Nothing will happen that will cause your collapse, for I remember what you can and cannot manage. I know you. I remember you.” Wow – why not pause and ponder that for a while?

A few weeks back I received an unexpected letter. The letter itself wasn’t unexpected – the results of a routine bowel cancer check that people of my age have to endure! But the letter said the initial test was positive and required prompt further investigation. That was unexpected. I read and re-read it. My immediate response was “it’s so annoying when they muddle things up. Don’t people know the difference between positive and negative? My result was negative, as it always has been every other time, why are they now saying it is positive?” I can be a little slow on the uptake sometimes and this was one of them.

Now – beloved readers – I know some of you are of a nervous disposition so let me rush to reassure. I’ve had the required colonoscopy (not one of those “oh joy” experiences!) and it turns out that all is fine. Apparently some inconsequential polyp that has now been removed distorted the results. But it was a sobering experience. How different things would have been if the specialist had greeted me when I awoke with a serious, “Hmmm, not the result we were hoping for.” After all, there are many days he has one or two of those conversations. It was an important reminder of the fine line between “all is well” and “you have an enormous mountain to climb, and it might not be possible to do it”.

But there was also another reminder. Even if it had been the “you have an enormous mountain to climb” conversation, some things would have remained true. “For 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.“

Nice chatting…

Photo by Fernando Cabral: https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-with-white-powder-3554375/

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