In the day that the LORD God made the Earth and the heavens, when no plant of the field was yet in the Earth, and no herb of the field had yet sprung up—for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the Earth, and there was no man to till the ground; but a mist went up from the Earth and watered the whole face of the ground—then the LORD God formed [Heb: yatsar] man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath [ruach] of life; and man became a living being [nephesh]. And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden [the word means “delight”], in the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed. (Lambert Dolphin)
The title might not be original. In fact, I watched a Mexican Movie Series on Television some years ago titled “Secrets of Sand.” The reason behind my choice for this title differs significantly from that Movie. Genesis 2:7 (NIV) clearly says: “The LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.“ From this account of creation, the man was formed from the dust of the ground; therefore, the secret of dust is synonymous with the secrets of man.
The study of man is genuinely complex. Man cannot be trusted except a renewed spiritual man with God as the hub of his existence. A man’s heart is dangerous, and that is the reason for degenerates and gutter snipers. You can see the face but not what is hidden inside. Men can laugh with you, eat, and drink with you and then turn around to stab you to death. I have often wondered why man’s heart is wicked, but I no longer do so because it is coded in the ‘secrets of dust.’
Man cannot be tamed as one can tame animal pets. God who created humankind has reasons to regret creating man. God got annoyed and destroyed humankind at a time but did we change after that? The answer is NO. God also made a way for reconciling us back to Him, but do we recognize and acknowledge this way; the answer is NO. All humankind’s faults are embedded in the secrets of dust/sand.
Scientists have tested, surveyed, and performed incredible experiments on the sand & dust of the Earth, but none has decoded the secrets of dust. In this decode lies the proper understanding of man. My random thoughts are browsing and exploring many perspectives, but I must confess I am nowhere near the answer or answers. I have an analytical and scientific mind with a pragmatic legal leaning, yet I cannot fathom the secrets of the dust. Let me start my exploration from what I know and have learned about the Earth; maybe, or a peradventure together, we can learn the secrets of dust/sand.
Let’s continue our exploration tomorrow.
