Image: The 1951 Golden Anniversary photo of Carl and Gertie Stadtlander, my wife’s great-grandparents who lived so recently, historically speaking, yet about whom we know so little–and our children or grandchildren will know nothing according to Ecclesiastes 1:11.
The rock band KANSAS recorded a perfect little song in 1977. “Dust in the Wind” is slow and quiet, evoking just the right mood for the bleak, nearly hopeless words. Here are a few of the lyrics:
Dust in the wind
Everything is dust in the wind
All we are is dust in the wind.
Same old song
Just a drop of water in an endless sea.
All we do
Crumbles to the ground though we refuse to see.
Now don’t hang on.
Nothing lasts forever but the earth and sky.
It slips away
And all your money won’t another minute buy …
All we are is dust in the wind.
Dust in the wind
Everything is dust in the wind
In the wind.
These lyrics are Biblical. There is truth in the notion that our lives are small, as insignificant as a single grain of sand on an eternal beach, a drop of water in an endless sea.[1] The Bible says that one generation passes away and another generation comes, but the earth abides forever, Ecclesiastes 1:4.
The Bible says no one will remember you (Ecclesiastes 1:11), and your life is meaningless.
“Vanity of vanities, all is vanity” Ecclesiastes 1:2.
You are infinitely small and all the greatest ups and downs of your entire life—the whole dramatic saga—is nothing. Totally meaningless. A dewdrop on a spiderweb. A vapor, a puff of smoke that disappears in an instant, James 4:14.
…But there is more to the story!
Consider this record of Israel and its perennial foe, the Philistines. After centuries of war, God pronounced judgment on the Philistines. Floods will come. Waters will rise. The Philistine men shall cry and the people howl. The Lord will spoil the Philistines. Baldness will come upon Gaza, Jeremiah 47:2-5.
Jeremiah then directly addresses the sword of God’s judgment:
“O thou sword of the Lord, how long will it be ere thou be quiet? Put up thyself into thy scabbard. Rest and be still” Jeremiah 47:6.
There is something amazing going on here. God—the God who created the entire universe, who put so many stars in space that they outnumber the grains of sand on the earth—is paying attention. To Israel.
But we expect that. Israel is God’s chosen people. And specific people in Israel—Abraham and Moses, David and Solomon, Daniel and Jeremiah—we expect God to take a special interest in them. But is God interested in everyone? Is he interested in you and me, people who will never be famous, not even in our own generation, much less in generations to come? Does God pay attention to “the little people”? To those of us whose lives are as small and forgettable as dust in the wind?
Yes. First, the family trees in the Bible prove how deep God’s interest is in the little people. Look at all the seemingly insignificant people listed. And there are over two dozen of these lengthy, difficult-to-read genealogies in the Bible. They rarely interest modern readers. If we read them, it is usually out of a sense of duty. But these names interest God. These are actual people, people like you and me. Regular folks whose lives will be forgotten for the most part. But God has not forgotten them or the role they played.
The Bible also indicates God’s interest in groups of people, or ‘corporate persons.’
That is, throughout the Bible God speaks directly to and about hundreds of cities, states, nations, churches, families, and people groups. For example, in Revelation, Jesus dictates letters to each of seven key churches in modern-day Turkey. He knows their strengths and weaknesses, their past and their future, and he gives them instructions about what to do next. These letters in Revelation come directly from the Mind of God—who has been paying attention.
And messages like that are peppered throughout the entire Bible. God is clearly paying attention to EVERYONE, not just to Israel. Often God speaks to cities, nations, and kingdoms with messages of judgment. Some repent, such as the hundreds of thousands in Nineveh who responded to Jonah’s reluctant preaching. Others do not repent, such as the citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah. But the point is, God is watching, paying attention to the short lives of people on earth—people whose existence amounts to no more than dust in the wind.
At other times God speaks not of judgment but of blessing. “Blessed be Egypt, my people. Blessed be Assyria, the land I have made. Blessed be Israel, my special possession” Isaiah 19:25. Again, God is paying attention.
God is watching. In fact, God seems to be fascinated by our otherwise tiny, insignificant lives.
And if the God of the universe—the only One whose opinion matters—finds our lives worthy of his attention, then our lives matter. We matter very much. If we matter to God, then we matter absolutely. We are not insignificant. You are not merely dust in the wind. You are a unique manifestation of God’s creativity. He made you special and he is more interested in you than you will ever comprehend. His love for you is infinite.
The first time I played the role of Jesus on stage, I would await my entrance while standing off stage in costume holding my infant daughter, thinking more about the years of her future than the next few minutes of my own. My entrance would then happen during a large crowd scene. The people would greet Jesus shouting “Hosanna!” and I remember embracing some of them and saying (in a voice the audience could not hear), “God is excited about you!”
I said that because I knew God looked at them the way I had just been looking at my own child—how could he be anything other than excited about them?
God pays attention to you. He is fascinated with every detail of you!
“He numbers the hairs on your head” Luke 12:7.
“He sees your ways and counts every step” Job 31:4.
“He holds your right hand” Psalm 73:23.
He does not take his eyes off of you, Job 36:7.
“He saves your tears in a bottle” Psalm 56:8.
“He examines you every morning” Job 7:18.
“He longs for the creation his hands have made” Job 14:15.
He cheers, sings, shouts, and rejoices over you. He calms you. Zephaniah 3:17.
You are not merely dust in the wind. You are dust in the wind, but Christ died for you. He loves you. He thinks of you. He is excited about you.
God is excited about you!
AΩ.
[1] One writer compares the “Dust in the Wind” lyrics to specific passages from Ecclesiastes here: https://www.bigspringsurc.com/dust-in-the-wind-and-ecclesiastes/
Household Words: 