When a store or some establishment is under going a repair or upgrade while still open for business, that they will often post a sign that says: "Please Pardon Our Dust - Under Construction."
As I thought about that sign this week, it dawned on me that it is a sign which would rightly fit around the neck of most all of us in more ways than one. What immediately came to mind was the fact that we were created from the dust of the earth. "And the LORD God formed man [of] the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." Gen.2:7 It reminds me of the little boy who asked his mom if it was true what he was told in Sunday school, that we came from dust, and when we die, we will return to dust? His mom answered yes, and then asked why he wanted to know. The boy said, "Cause, I just looked under my bed, and if that is true, then someone is either comin' or going!"
Now, as I have written before, the bible uses symbolic language to convey a much deeper truth, and if you are willing to search it out, many spiritual truths can be discovered. "It is] the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honor of kings [is] to search out a matter." Prov. 25:2. In this case, dust is symbolic of the carnal nature of man. Man was formed from the dust of the earth. The earth is that lower region of existence. Not lower as in height, but rather in realm of existence. It is the realm to which man was cast for his disobedience to God's command not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
"In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou [art], and unto dust shalt thou return." Gen 3:19
God had planted two "trees" in the middle of the Garden where He placed man to dwell. One was the tree of Life, and the other being the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Notice that it is not a tree of good and evil, but rather a tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Before I go any further, I should tell you that I do not believe that they were literal trees in a garden. That too is symbolic. Consider the words of Jesus in reference to a person being good or evil, He said "Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them." Matt. 7:20 Now, was He talking about people walking around with real fruit hanging from their limbs? Of course not, it is in reference to their deeds, which in return is a result of their inner nature: a nature that is dependant still on eating from the tree of Life, or the tree of the knowlege of good and evil.
There is much that can be said about that, but the one point I want to make comes from what God said to the serpent in the Garden. "And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou [art] cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: " Gen 3:14.
If you will notice, that God said the serpent is to eat dust. Put that together with the fact that dust is symbolic of the carnal nature of man, and you now understand what is the purpose of the devil! The devil's purpose is to eat your dust! To consume your carnality! That is ALL that he can do! Jesus said "for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me." John 14:30 There was no carnality in Jesus for the devil to lay hold of; nothing for him to consume.
As for us, that is where our battle lies; in our carnal nature; that which is at emnity with God. The more that we eat from the tree of (His) Life within us, the more like Him we become, and the less serpent food we produce, and the less often we will have to ask others to "Please Pardon My Dust"
