For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass; as a flower of the field, so he flourishes. For the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. (Psalm 103:14-16)

Formed Of Dust

On the way home from church, a little boy asked his mother, “Is it true, Mommy, that we are made of dust?” “Yes, darling.” “And do we go back to dust again when we die?” “Yes.” “Well, Mommy, when I said my prayers last night and looked under the bed, I found someone who is either coming or going.”

Moses writes, “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7). The human body is made up of oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen. Calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sodium, potassium, chlorine, and sulfur are macronutrients or elements the body needs in a significant amount. Some suggest the value of the chemicals in the human body is worth about five dollars.

What makes the human body amazing is that in the life of a man living seventy years, his heart pumps blood through the veins for 613,200 hours – nonstop. The brain processes incredible amounts of information that can be recalled for many years. A child is conceived in the womb and grows into nine months to a baby born through an amazing process. That little bundle of arms and legs begins to grow into an adult, with body changes marking the age of growth. Old age comes, and then the body dies. All of this in a lifetime measured in less than ten decades.

Everyone dies. Men have tried for ages to find a cure for death, and there is none. The body is made of dust, and to dust it will return. If a man possessed all the money in the world, it could not buy him one minute more of life. Men will spend a lifetime living in pleasure and still grow old and die. The body is created to die. Graves fill the earth’s landscape, reminding men of life’s brevity.

Man is dust, but he possesses something that no other creature has – an eternal spirit. God created man from the dust of the ground, but He created man in His own image. The body returns to the dust, but the eternal spirit lives on. When an animal dies, that is the end of its existence. Death places man into the realm of the eternal, where there is no end. This can be a time of joy or a time of horror; but it is reality! If a man lives for the pleasure of the flesh, he lives for the pleasure of dust. When a man sees his eternal spirit, he will live to find eternal life in Jesus Christ.

The Bible shows us the path to true happiness. We are worth more than $5.00. Jesus died to save us because we are more than dust.