Adonai is slow to anger, but great in power; and he does not leave the guilty unpunished. Adonai’s path is in the whirlwind and storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. ~ Nahum 1:3, CJB

Perhaps many of us never have imagined that God the Father has feet, let alone “dust” that He shakes off of His feet. Yet, despite the fact that the Scriptures clearly state that NO MAN can see nor has ever seen God the Father (cf. John 1:18; 1 Timothy 6:16, and Exodus 33:20), not only do Exodus 24:9-11 and Psalm 18:9 both describe Him as having feet, but also Nahum 1:3 specifically says clouds are the dust of God’s feet.  

What should be acknowledged here is that although a few of the Word of God authors declare that NO MAN has ever seen Father God, there are many biblical writers who not only describe Him as having feet but also attribute other human characteristics to God the Father, like hands and eyes. The point here is that, even though no man has ever seen Father God, and yet some men and women have seen Him, for example, seen His feet, there absolutely isn’t any contradiction in God’s Word.

The truth is that, throughout the Old and New Testaments, the inspired writers of God’s Word are describing God the Father in figurative language, by using images, metaphors, symbolisms, and so forth. This figurative language often is easily understood by humanity, like the cloud and footstool imageries/symbolisms.  Figuratively speaking, God is described in the Scriptures as having feet, like when Father God, through the prophet Ezekiel, predicts that He not only will reside in a future Jewish Temple that will be located in Jerusalem, but also He predicts that the soles of His feet will walk on that future Temple’s floors (cf. Ezekiel 43:7).  In addition to depicting Father God as having feet, in many Old Testament verses His presence, Glory, guidance, care, protection, and judgment often are represented as clouds, or they are described as being in clouds, as in the cloud on the wilderness tabernacle, or in the cloud over the Israelites (cf. Exodus 40:38; Numbers 10:34); or like the presence and Glory of God in or covered by a cloud (cf. Exodus 16:10; Exodus 19:9; Exodus 24:16; Exodus 34:5); or like a pillar of cloud (cf. Exodus 40:36; Psalm 78:14a); or as a bow in cloud (cf. Genesis 9:13); and/or as clouds that resemble the dust of God’s feet (cf. Nahum 1:3b).

Moreover, in the Old and New Testament, both Father God and His Son, Jesus the Christ, are described as coming in or on a cloud/the clouds, or with clouds (cf. Exodus 19:9; Exodus 34:5; Matthew 24:30;  Matthew 26:64; Mark 13:26; Mark 14:62; Luke 21:27; and Revelation 1:7). Furthermore, just like Christ Jesus ascended up and into Heaven via a cloud (cf. Acts 1:9), His true believers also are promised that they too will ascend up into Heaven (will be caught up) by way of the clouds (cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:17). 

Now concerning the mentioned feet or cloud images—God the Father’s appearances or Divine manifestations—that are in various “forms” (figurative languages) that humans easily can understand, throughout the Holy Bible there are several specific imagistic references to the Earth being God’s footstool. Indeed, in Isaiah 66:1, Matthew 5:35, and Acts 7:49, either Father God Himself or His Son, Christ Jesus, tells readers that the Earth is God’s footstool. Thus, the imageries (mental pictures) of His feet (clouds) resting on a footstool (Earth) actually symbolize Father God as being not only the possessor but also the Lord and Judge of this physical/natural Earth.  

Put differently, the imageries of the Earth being His footstool and the clouds being under Father God’s feet both suggest that clouds are like the dust off of His feet. Furthermore, both of these images not only symbolize Father God’s presence, Glory, guidance, care, protection, and judgment but also the Earth being His footstool and the clouds being under Father God’s feet (like the dust off of His feet) reinforce the biblical and Divine Truths about Father God being the Creator and Controller of Earth and, for that matter, the Creator and Controller of the entire universe (cf. Genesis 1:1; Exodus 19:5; Psalm 104).  

The bottom line is that unlike the literal and figurative dust that we are commanded to shake off of our feet (cf. Matthew 10:14-15; Mark 6:10-11; Luke 9:5; Luke 10:11; Acts 13:51), the symbolic dust shaken off of Father God’s feet accentuates both the literal goodness that comes from Father God’s Mercy, Grace and supernatural Power, and the literal wrath that also comes from His supernatural Power. In other words, although Father God is extremely merciful, gracious, and patient (willing to give human beings time to repent), and although He is strong in power, which is the same power that He used to create the Earth and the Heavens, and the same power He uses to display His presence, Glory, guidance, care, and protection, let there be no doubt about it. Father God never will acquit those individuals who choose to remain sinners—those individuals who reject His Son, Christ Jesus, as Lord and Savior.

For sure, even though God has never been in a hurry to punish mankind (He desires that no one should perish), His wrath (judgment), like a whirlwind or a storm (effects of God’s supernatural power), will pour quickly and suddenly from out of Father God’s enormously rich arsenal of mighty weapons and destroy human beings. The point here is that Father God’s wrath or judgment is ever present with Him. More important, in the end times, His ever present wrath will sweep over this world’s wicked people like the cloud of dust a massive army raises as it marches against its enemies!

Finally, the abovementioned Divine Truths are why the dust that is under Father God’s feet (cf. Nahum 1:3b) also symbolizes how this Sovereign God, on one hand, transcends the Earth, and the entire universe, which He created, and yet, on the other hand, is ever present in every one of humanity’s earthly activities, as well as all of those activities happening throughout the entire universe. Because Father God is ever present in every human being’s earthly activities, this is the main reason why every evangelist also must know and understand the ramifications of either physically or symbolically shaking the dust off of his or her feet, especially if this action is done because he or she is too impatient and/or too infuriated with some people.

While Christ Jesus does not intend for His evangelists to persevere wherever the sown Gospel Message’s seed is totally fruitless (wherever people neither wanted to hear nor have received the full Gospel Message), the often ignored truth is that this dust-shaking action is a highly critical fault-finding gesture. For this reason, even though evangelists are responsible only for preaching an authoritative unadulterated version of the Gospel Message, that doesn’t mean evangelists hurriedly should shake the dust off of their feet. Nor does it mean that they should rejoice over being presented with reasons for and opportunities to shake the dust off of their feet.

Certainly, by shaking the dust off of their feet, evangelists are expressing God’s dissatisfaction with those households and/or individuals who neither wanted to hear nor have received the full Gospel Message, while simultaneously issuing a warning about God’s forthcoming judgment that He will pour out upon them. Equally important to note here is this final point: Evangelists who shake the dust off of their feet personally are making a spiritual accusation—giving their own testimony (displaying their own sign of rejection; protesting) against those households and/or individuals who neither wanted to hear nor have received the full Gospel Message (cf. Luke 9:5; Luke 10:11)!