Yesterday we saw the amazing truth that the Lord God has formed us personally.
Genesis 2:7 tells us two more important things about being human.
First: “The Lord God formed the man of dust.”
Second: “The Lord God… breathed into his nostrils the breath of life….” We’ll look at that tomorrow.
Dust. To be personally formed by the Lord is glorious, but to be dust is humbling. Human beings think that they are great and important, but we are just dust. Without the loving creative power and care of the Lord God, we are nothing, just dust.
The words at a funeral remind us of this: “…earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust…”
And because we are dust, the things we receive from God’s hand aren’t because we deserve them or because it is our right to be blessed; we receive from God’s hand by grace alone. The fact that we live and breathe, and eat and drink, and sleep and wake, are all gifts from God to us.
But the fact that we are dust also means that the privilege of being His image bearers is so amazing: “When I look at Your heavens, the work of Your fingers… what is man that You are mindful of him, the son of man that You care for Him?” (Psalm 8:3-4)
And the fact that we are dust shows the Lord’s compassion to us: “As a father shows compassion to His children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear Him. For He knows our frame, He remembers that we are dust.” (Psalm 103:13-14)
The fact that we are dust is why we feel weak. It reminds us that all we have comes from the Lord who has compassion on us. We need Him for every breath. Let’s bow before Him today in worship.
The best is yet to come 