Let’s talk about the origin of the species. The human species, homo sapiens. You and me. Just call us dust specks. Or, if you want a rainy day report, call us mud balls. That’s us!
King Nebuchadnezzar once had a dream in which he saw a huge statue which had a head of pure gold. Descending toward the statue’s feet, other body parts were made of metals of decreasing value, and the feet even contained some clay. If we were to visualize a statue of ourselves, chances are we’d like to see it made of gold or maybe silver. Certainly nothing less than burnished bronze. But forget about it! Settle for clay. We’re walking, talking, breathing mud.
But take heart! We’re not just some casual, ordinary dust specks. The dust of our beginning was itself created by the eternal God, for it was he who made the earth. Then at the proper time in his own universe-building schedule, “the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7).
From God-made earth, God made man. And this is not our only connection to the earth. When we die, our bodies return to it, which means our biological selves are part and parcel of this planet. It’s no wonder that when our feet are separated from the soil we tend to be uncomfortable. Chances are you’ve bounced around in a plane flying through turbulent air, or maybe you’ve had an unpleasant experience on the water. Fish and birds handle problems of sea and sky better than we do. We’re dirt people.
Yes, we came from soil, and we return to it. But there’s a cleaner, brighter, more attractive side to our nature than this. Adam, God’s primordial man, became a living being, a responsible human, a person of intelligence with the ability to know what was right and to make decisions accordingly. He was capable of loving and being loved. He was created in the image of his Creator and intended to maintain an intimate fellowship with him. God made him to be something special.
So, let’s talk about the origin of our species. Are we
people of the dust? Certainly. But it was God who used dust to create us. We
are actually his offspring (see Acts