Genesis 3:19 reminds us of our fragile and momentary time in this life. “We are all from dust and to dust, we shall return.” I believe that most of us, especially in the US, live with a false sense of security. Subconsciously, we believe that we will live forever.
We believe that we are immortal. Death is for the other guy, not us. After all, the world cannot possibly go on without us. Right? We are the center. We are the straw that stirs the drink. We are busy living that way. We are daily occupied with building a life, a marriage, a family, a business, and a nation – without realizing that, at any moment, our lives on this mortal planet may suddenly come to an end.
Tragically, we make the same mistake as that group of people so long ago in Babel who were busy building a tower to their own importance without understanding how incredibly fragile they really were.
We are like Pharaoh who built the pyramids of Egypt.
Like Nebuchadnezzar who built a statue to his fame.
Like Goliath who made his boastful claim to be a god.
Like Nero and Herod. Like Alexander and Napoleon.
Like Hitler and Mussolini.
And like me…
A person trying to build a dust pile in the rain.
Yet I am from the dust, and to dust I shall return.
And you with me.
You too are dust.
The breath of life we breathe was given by grace.
And someday that breath will return from where it came.
What have we discovered that will not be forgotten?
What have we built that will not pass away?
What have we said that will not go silent?
What have we grown that will not decay?
Only One thing stands that will never fall.
Only One ear hears the faintest call.
Only One hand holds the tears we cry.
Only One death will never die.
Only One Savior can save us all.
Only One King can rule us all.
So when I am gone from this world
Only One thing remains.
When I return to the dust,
Only One Word can raise me again.
So until that moment when all things are new.
I must live with the knowledge that all that I do
Is merely a whisper that is gone in the wind.
And so I’m reminded to learn and re-learn.
From dust I have come.
To dust I will return.
