Psalm 90:3

Psalm 90:3 3 You turn man to destruction, And say, “Return, O children of men.”

”Forasmuch as it hath pleased Almighty God, in his wise providence, to take out of this world unto Himself the soul of our deceased brother we therefore commit his body to the ground, earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.” The Star Book for Ministers Second Revised Edition pg 191

Everyone dies. It is the one equalizer. Death is no respecter of persons, visiting both prince and pauper without reservation. We are frail beings holding onto life by merely a spider’s web. Moses reminds us of that truth in today’s verse.

”You turn man to destruction” our verse for today says. The word for destruction comes from a word that signifies beating, grinding or pounding of a thing into powder. That’s a good description of life isn’t it? The effects of sin on this world and on ourselves grinds us away until we return to that thing from which we came, dust - nothing more. In the book of Genesis we learn that Adam was formed from the dust of the ground by God who afterward breathed life into him. We are made of the same stuff today. Look at what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:

47 The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. 48As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. 49And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man.

Moses goes on to say ”Return, O children of men”. When God calls you out of this life – you go. You can’t bargain with Him. You can’t plead with Him. You can’t argue with Him. You simply go.

Jesus says in Matthew “which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature”. In essence what He is saying is that no matter what you do you cannot extend your time on this earth. You have a limited amount of time allotted to you and it is all you get. Quick as you can say “Bob’s your uncle” you’re whisked off into your eternity – sadly most of us are not ready. We leave things unfinished, we leave words left unsaid, we leave relationships broken, we leave hugs not given – all of us end our lives with a whole list of things “we’d like to have done”.

But have hope Christian! Frail as this life is death is not the end! Paul goes on in 1 Corinthians to say “O Death where is thy sting, O Hades where is thy victory”. Death for the Christian is not final. We have a whole eternity to look forward to! To “bear the image of the heavenly” means that we will someday drop this dust that we are carrying around and be in the presence of the Father in our new bodies that will never wear out!

You might be wondering why I opened today’s post with a committal prayer. Most of my “public” ceremonies as a minister have been funerals. Sadly a number of them have been for people who weren’t ready for their eternity. Those have been the saddest occasions of my life as I look at the husk of the person who was and wonder where they are… Was Christ their Lord? In those occasions where no one was sure of the persons allegiance I always preach an evangelistic message.

I want to make sure that the people there hear that death is not the end! I want them to hear that there is hope! I want them to know that they can turn from the sin and turn toward Christ! I want them to know that they are just a heartbeat away from joining their loved one in eternity! I want them to choose Christ on this side of the grave! I want them to understand that Jesus Christ is the only salvation, comfort, and hope that anyone of us have!

Beloved remember that you are but dust. Spend every precious second that the Father has given you in service to His Son!

Grace and Peace to you all…