Psalm 104:29a

Psalm 104:29a

The dust of the earth

It was while walking the dog, after reading this verse, that I was challenged to think more about “the dust.” We were passing along the perimeter of a field and I was aware of the newly planted wheat that had sprouted in late autumn and given a lovely green tinge to what had been a barren area of land. One of my beefs about modern agriculture is that it has robbed our fields of their goodness, if you look closely at a field of winter barley or wheat in early spring, the crop will appear to be light green or yellow. The colour changes as farmers apply “spring starter” fertilisers which are used primarily to feed the young plants with Phosphate, Potassium, Nitrogen and Sulphur. 

Because fields are no longer allowed to rest and there is very little rotation of crops, the goodness has been drained from the soil and fertilisers have to be added to promote healthy young plants. In other words, the ground is dead, the dust of the earth has no natural goodness in it. When allowed to rest, grasses and other plants grow that birth insect life, and billions of bacteria and other organisms populate even the wild vegetation that then dies and in so doing gives back to the land the chemical stimulation that it needs. 

The “dust” of the earth is almost a derogatory term in Scripture, it is the place where dead things are buried, but it is those dead things that give it life! An amazing exchange goes on in the fields all around us of which few people are aware. But the psalmist was aware. Here he talks about creatures dying and returning to the dust, in the next verse he refers to the face of the ground being renewed!

The dust of the earth does not resound with songs of praise, mountain rocks do and so do the seas, but the ground beneath our feet is dead unless created things die in it and give it life!! Even the seeds that are sown have to die by being buried in “the dust” before they can live. Listen to the words of Jesus, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.” John 12:24.

What a parable – the dust of the earth – it has so much to teach us! What a Creator God, He has shown us what is at the very heart of death and resurrection and most people haven’t got a clue!

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