The Beauty of Dirt … the Beauty of You
I don’t know what it’s like at your house, but my wife and I do not tolerate dirt. I’m a neat freak. Everything has a place, and everything in its place—with no dirt or dust in sight. But I’m quite messy compared to my wife. Who could top my wife? Apparently, our youngest son can. I’m helping him with a building project at his house, and I’m amazed at how neat everything is even while we are renovating his kitchen.
All that to say, I’m not a fan of dirt.
But maybe I should be. After all, that is what I am.
“Then the Lord God formed the man out of the dust from the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being” (Gen. 2:7).
We know his name as Adam, and his name is a wordplay of the Hebrew word for “ground.” After Adam sinned, God reminded him of just exactly who he is.
“For you are dust, and you will return to dust” (3:19).
For the rest of his life—all 930 years—every time Eve called his name, he was reminded that he was from the dirt.
As his ancestors, we too are from the dirt, and ever since that first declaration from God, we have been trying to climb out of the dirt. We’re been trying to rise above our status as dirt. The history of the world is a history of humanity trying to make more of ourselves than we should.
I’m not speaking against doing what we can to improve our lot in life. We should do all we can to make this a better world, to help live better lives. But I’m referring to that part of us that wants to make ourselves more than we are, to look at ourselves with pride and deny that we were ever anything as lowly as the dust of the earth.
It’s that kind of pride that makes us forget God. Or worse, it makes us want to be our own gods. It’s that effort to makes more of ourselves than is appropriate that leads us to run roughshod over others, to insist on things our way, and to wage war with others.
I mentioned the Hebrew connection between Adam’s name and the word for ground. It’s the same with our word “human.” Our English word comes from the Latin referring to a person of the earth. An earthy person. A person of the dirt.
To be human is to remember our roots: we are dirt.
That doesn’t make us worthless. Far from it. When God completed His creation, He declared it good. Very good. We may be people “of the dirt,” but God has given us a position of honor.
“You made him little less than God and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet” (Ps. 8:5-6).
The irony is that when we seek glory on our own, we miss the very glory—the greater glory—God intends for us. But when we humble ourselves before Him …
Hold that thought and let’s look at the notion of humility. The word “humility” comes from the word “humus,” the word for earth. To be humble means to be on the ground. We can easily envision this as a person humbles himself before another and bows low to the ground. We humble ourselves by returning to the ground, returning to the place of our creation … in the dust before our Creator.
To humble ourselves is to place ourselves in a position that reminds us that we are not God. We are His. And when we humble ourselves before Him, we are never more fully human. We are the people God created us to be.
Here comes irony again. It’s when we humble ourselves—returning to the dirt—that we are then exalted!
“Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you” (Jas. 4:10).
So go ahead. Get a little dirty. Remind yourself of who you are. Get in the dirt, humbling yourself before the God who lovingly created you, and experience the full joy of being His creation.
“Mankind, he has told each of you what is good and what it is the Lord requires of you: to act justly, to love faithfulness, and to walk humbly with your God” (Mic. 6:8).
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This post supports the study “Purpose Abandoned” in Bible Studies for Life and YOU.
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