WE ARE NOTHING BUT DUST

Eric Aboadwe
September 24, 2017 ·

WE ARE NOTHING BUT DUST

Our Scripture reading continues from the Psalms of David where it is written:

“As a father PITIES his children, so the LORD pities those who fear Him. For He knows our FRAME; He remembers that we are DUST.”

As fallen human beings, we even lack the capacity to know ourselves very well, and as a result of this, God reveals our fundamental nature to us through the SPIRITUAL diagnosis by His “Word.” And it is this same “Word” which RENEWS, TRANSFORM and RESTORE us to our Creator’s intention of making us according to His image and likeness (Genesis 1:26).

David the Psalmist was such a man who actually understood his human NATURE very well. Due to this, he was very HUMBLE and he believed in the SALVATION of JESUS CHRIST, and he sang a lot of songs concerning this. His statement “He remembers that we are DUST” shows that David did not exclude himself, for he knows that all human beings are equally the same, and no one is BETTER than the other.

Therefore the Psalmist himself describes the sinful NATURE of humans who are “DUST” as those who were “brought forth in iniquity” and “conceived in SIN” (Psalm 51:5).

In the Book of Job, the “DUST” is described as those who are “abominable and filthy,” and who “drinks iniquity like water” (Job 15:16).

Isaiah also describes the “DUST” as those who are “transgressors from the womb” (Isaiah 48:8). In fact Isaiah even added that, “in these ways we continue; And we need to be SAVED. But we are all like UNCLEAN thing, and all our RIGHTEOUSNESS are like filthy rags, we all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities like the wind, have taken us away” (Isaiah 64:6).

When the Apostle Paul also realized that he was nothing but “DUST,” he confessed with all HUMILITY, “For I know that in me (that is in my flesh) NOTHING good dwells” (Romans 7:17)

Also when God revealed the sinful NATURE of the human “DUST” to Jeremiah as “deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9), he also confessed with all HUMILITY, “Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; Save me, and I shall be saved, for You are my praise” (Jeremiah 17:14).

However, in the midst of all these deplorable NATURE of the human “DUST,” our Scripture reading says that, “As a father PITIES his children, so the LORD pities those who fear Him.” The words “those who fear Him” refers to those who acknowledge the “HOLINESS” of God, and who admit their own sinful nature, and who believe in the salvation of JESUS CHRIST who saved the “DUST” from SIN through his water and blood.

The GOOD NEWS is that, in order to re-create the “DUST” as “New creatures in CHRIST” (2 Corinthians 5:17), the Word of the LORD came to Jeremiah saying, “Arise and go down to the POTTER’S house, and there I will cause you to hear my words” (Jeremiah 18:1).

Brothers and Sisters, when Jeremiah went, he saw something REMARKABLE about how God will transform the “DUST” from SIN into His RIGHTEOUS. So Jeremiah tells us his own observation when he said, “Then I went down to the POTTER’S house, and there he was, making something at the wheel. And the vessel that he made of CLAY was MARRED in the hand of the POTTER; So he made it AGAIN into another vessel as it seemed GOOD to the POTTER to make” (Jeremiah 18:3-4).

Here we must understand that the word “CLAY” in the passage is the same as “DUST” which king David was talking about in our Scripture reading. Therefore what Jeremiah saw was God’s revelation to him concerning how in the beginning, “The LORD God formed man of the DUST of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breadth of life, and man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7).

Therefore when it says that “And the vessel that he made of CLAY was MARRED in the hand of the POTTER,” the word “MARRED” refers to how the “DUST” fell into transgression to become a SINNER. But Jeremiah also saw the revelation of SALVATION in the hand of the POTTER when he said, “So he made it AGAIN into another vessel as it seemed GOOD to the POTTER to make.”

Dear Christian, the Word of God is telling us through this revelation, that there is no way we can make ourselves “GOOD” (righteous), but rather it is the “POTTER” (God) who makes us “RIGHTEOUS.” Therefore when it says “He made it AGAIN into another vessel,” it is talking about the re-creation and the “washing of re-generation and renewing of the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5). This is what JESUS spoke about when He said that, “Unless a man is born again of the water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God” (John 3:5).

It means that the “DUST” or “CLAY” who were “MARRED” by SIN must be “made AGAIN into another vessel as it seemed GOOD” to the Almighty Creator through the power of the water baptism of CHRIST, His death, and resurrection.

Therefore God spoke to Jeremiah, the entire house of Israel, and all human beings saying, “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this POTTER?” says the LORD. “Look, as the CLAY is in the POTTER’S hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel” (Jeremiah 18:6).

Jeremiah believed in this very Word of God, therefore God revealed to him that He will raise “A Branch of RIGHTEOUSNESS” (JESUS CHRIST) who will saved Judah and the entire human race from SIN and make them RIGHTEOUS. Therefore God told Jeremiah that JESUS will be called, “THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS” (Jeremiah 23:5-6).

Isaiah also understood and believed in the creative power of CHRIST as the “POTTER,” therefore he said, “But now, O LORD, You are our Father; We are the CLAY, and You our POTTER; And all we are the work of Your hand” (Isaiah 64:8).

But it is very unfortunate and very sad that many Christians of today do not believe in God as the “POTTER.” They are always confessing their SINS and trying to wash and change themselves with new set of “filthy garments” through “The Prayers of Repentance.” Meanwhile the “POTTER” knows very well that you cannot do anything by yourself, and so you cannot obey the LAW to become RIGHTEOUS. That’s why our Scripture reading says that, “For He knows our FRAME; He remembers that we are DUST.”

As a Christian, you must know that your prayers of repentance will NEVER come to an end until you realize that your are the “CLAY” (DUST), and God is the “POTTER.”

Our study continues............

BLESSED are those who realize this!