Genesis 2/3 Notes/Thoughts - Dust- I was at my mens group yesterday (which is why I never post things on Thursday morning) and my friend mentioned how God transforms peoples lives. He takes us with our junk , he doesnt wait for us to get better but comes after us. He is giving life to people who are dead. To this day no scientist has been able to create organic from inorganic material. Taking the elements and bonding them and then they become alive. Science can work on taking alive and rearranging D.N.A. to give things the traits they want which is a different story. I thought about this more and I realized just how miraculous God is and what he did for humans ... twice. Lets unpack... Genesis 2 4When the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, 5 neither wild plants nor grains were growing on the earth. For the Lord God had not yet sent rain to water the earth, and there were no people to cultivate the soil. 6 Instead, springs came up from the ground and watered all the land. 7 Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person. So how was man made? He was made from dust. There was no evolution from apes. Now many people will want to debate that so I ask you to hear me out... Genesis 3 (after man had sinned and God was revealing their punishment) 17 And to the man he said, “Since you listened to your wife and ate from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat, the ground is cursed because of you. All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it. 18 It will grow thorns and thistles for you, though you will eat of its grains. 19 By the sweat of your brow will you have food to eat until you return to the ground from which you were made. For you were made from dust, and to dust you will return.” God promises some things. Our work, which was given before sin, is now going to be burdensome. Its going to fight back. A lot of us will work the whole day, maybe make just enough to live, for that day, and then repeat it all tomorrow, and God tells us that were were made from dust, and now that is what we will be in the future. DUST. (or ground) God was giving man what he deserved, man rebelled, his punishment was death, oh sure Adam lived like another 900 years, but when compared to what it should have been (forever) 900 years might as well been 900 minutes. Eventually Adam did die, his body turned back into the ground it came from and that should have been the end of the Bible... There is another attribute of God that the justice crowd tends to forget. Gods mercy and compassion. King David wrote this about God. Psalm 103 8 The Lord is compassionate and merciful, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. 9 He will not constantly accuse us, nor remain angry forever. 10 He does not punish us for all our sins; he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve. 11 For his unfailing love toward those who fear him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth. 12 He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west. 13 The Lord is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him. 14 For he knows how weak we are; he remembers we are only dust. David, might possible be the worst sinner (except the Apostle Paul tried to claim that title) in the Bible. A man, who was handed picked by God to lead his people, who turns around and sleeps with one of his best friends wives, gets her pregnant, tries to cover his sin by causing his friend to get drunk and sleep with his wife. When that doesnt work he gives his best friend orders (which he was unaware of) that puts him in the front lines of the army so that the enemy would kill him, thus David gave an innocent man his own death warrant to deliver to his executioner... then tries to cover that up. Needless to say God was anger with Davids sin, and life went down hill after that, but, here is the amazing part. GOD FORGAVE DAVID! David then explored the depth of Gods grace through the Psalms. Then David died and returned from which he is from, dust. Now consider that for a second and then let me add this passage. Matthew 13 (Parable of the soil types) 8 “Now listen to the explanation of the parable about the farmer planting seeds: 19 The seed that fell on the footpath represents those who hear the message about the Kingdom and don’t understand it. Then the evil one comes and snatches away the seed that was planted in their hearts. 20 The seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy. 21 But since they don’t have deep roots, they don’t last long. They fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing God’s word. 22 The seed that fell among the thorns represents those who hear God’s word, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life and the lure of wealth, so no fruit is produced. 23 The seed that fell on good soil represents those who truly hear and understand God’s word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!” Jesus is calling us different soil types. Living in the middle of Iowa, almost all of our soil is top soil. Super good stuff to grow crops in. We feed the rest of the world. I have always thought about this parable because I see seeds and crops all the time. But I often dont think about the soil. We are made from ground, God plants his word in us, depending on our soil type something happens (which is from God as well , Ephesians 2) and then one day we return to the ground from which we came. Now maybe you dont believe any of this. But this much is true, our bodies will become dust. Cremation, or old bones in a hole in the ground that crumble at the touch or melt away into the earth. The question isnt, what does my future look like, because your future is soil, the question is , what did you do with your soil while you were alive? Questions of the day. How did humans get on the earth? Why do you believe this? Why did God forgive David? What did God do for Adam in Genesis 3 to reconcile humans? What is our ultimate fate? What did Jesus say about our soil and what he is looking for?
Posted on: Fri, 18 Oct 2013 12:06:03 +0000
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