Read: Psalm 103:1-14; Genesis 3:8-19
He remembers that we are dust. (Ps. 103:14)
The story of creation, so beautifully described in Genesis 1 and 2, all went horribly wrong in chapter 3. You know the sequel because we all live with the results. While our sins may be forgiven, their consequences remain. So it was with Adam and Eve. The consequences of their sin included difficulty and pain in childbearing, the clash of wills in marriage, frustration and futility in work. And finally, mortality: “You are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Gen. 3:19).
In the traditional burial service of the Book of Common Prayer, the body is committed to the ground with the words “earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.” If that’s all there is to say, well then, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die” (1 Cor. 15:32). But that isn’t all there is. The liturgy goes on, “. . . in sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life, through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Dust isn’t the final word. The final word is resurrection. “All dies, and all dries, and moulders into dust . . . . And still, still God knows . . . in what part of the world every grain of every man’s dust lies; and . . . he whispers, he hisses, he beckons for the bodies of his saints, and in the twinkling of an eye, that body that was scattered over all the elements, is sat down at the right hand of God, in a glorious resurrection” (John Donne).
We may be dust now, but we won’t always be.
As you pray, thank God for the promise and hope of resurrection.
David Bast is a writer and pastor who served for 23 years as the President and Broadcast Minister for Words of Hope. In his more than 40 years of devotional writing and preaching, he has been encouraging believers around the world to be shaped by God and his Word.
Prior to his ministry and work at Words of Hope, Dave served as a pastor for 18 years in congregations in the Reformed Church in America. A graduate of Hope College and Western Theological Seminary, he is the author of nine devotional books and Bible studies, including God of My Days,Why Doesn't God Act More Like God,Christ in the Psalms, andA Gospel for the World.
Dave and his wife, Betty Jo, have four children and eight grandchildren. Dave enjoys reading, growing tomatoes, and avidly follows the Detroit Tigers.
