This is an excerpt from a book I’m writing on now called “Dust to Dust: Lessons from the Land”. I hope this might give you some extra hope and encouragement for whatever challenge you might be facing today.
Have you ever thought of soil as lovely? Or as good? God did. And God said so in Genesis 1:10. As importantly, He hasn’t said otherwise, even when the ground was cursed because of Adam’s sin (see Genesis 3:17). But to round out some thinking on this idea, let’s talk a little bit about how soil and dirt aren’t the same thing, be it in the Bible or in our daily lives.
Soil is a God-given natural resource which feeds our world, cleans our water, provides shelter for a variety of God’s creatures, and meets many other needs including foundations for buildings and roads and materials for medicines, artists, and chefs. In contrast, dirt is what you want to remove from clothes and closets, houses and hospitals, food and family members. In other words, dirt is (former) soil now out-of-place. Keep that thought handy – we’re coming back to it in a minute.
Have you ever thought of yourself as lovely? Or as good? God did. And God said so in Psalm 139:13-16 and other places in Scripture. To clarify, as Christ-followers, God calls Christ alive in us as good and lovely, no matter how we or others might see ourselves. We were made by God in His Image for His purpose of His glory and the good of His people (see Genesis 1:27). The first man was made by God directly from soil. And God first refers to that first man, Adam, as the man of dust from the ground (Genesis 2:7 ESV). God could’ve made Adam like He did the rest of creation – by simply speaking or thinking him into existence or by any other way He wanted. Yet God chose to reach down into the soil to shape the man of dust from the ground. And this wasn’t just a one-off with the kingdom of heaven either. We see similar in John 9:6 GNT After he said this, Jesus spat on the ground and made some mud with the spittle; he rubbed the mud on the man’s eyes. That same beautiful picture of care and compassion by the reaching in with holy hands to set aside soil as something sacred for brand-new life and then again, for the healing of a once-new life. We see growth and grace displayed through God’s touching of the ground in both these stories. Almighty God manifesting grace and glory from the dust in an undeniable beauty and boldness.
Just ask Adam or the once-blind man, I bet they’d say, “it just doesn’t get any better than that!” But just as good as that creation or healing was for them, it’s even better for us as Christ-followers. We were once dirt in our sin but now we are the soil our Savior uses to feed the world with the truth spoken in love which can set the world to be free and free indeed (see Ephesians 4:15 and John 8:32). We are the soil He uses to receive the dirty water of others’ words or actions and return it to them as redeemed and clear in patience, kindness, and compassion (see Matthew 5:39 and Galatians 5:22-23). We are the soil God intends to bring as sources of medicine and beauty to a world sick and suffering with evil, sin, and lies (see James 5:16 and Hebrews 12:13). We are the soil God wants to display the strength of hearts and homes built on God and His goodness instead of the sands of self and a shifting morality (see Matthew 7:24-27). As Christ-followers, we can be the good soil described in Matthew 13 if we choose to accept God’s work in our lives as lovely and good as He intends, whether or not we might want what He has put into our lives (see Romans 8:28 and James 1:2-8).
We know Him as good, thus, we can trust Him to do good. To do good with our once-dirt lives in making soil for His glory with our lives and with others’ lives, too. In the dust of today and the decisions of the yet-to-come days.
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written by and copyrighted to Beth Madison, Ph.D., 2024.
Soul Scientist 
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