The Breath in His Nostrils

Genesis 2:7 (CSB): Then the Lord God formed the man out of the dust from the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.

Since the garden, humanity has continually rejected our origin. We seek to exalt ourselves, worshipping our own ideas and creations in twisted self-absorption. Isaiah condemned physical Israel for this very thing.

Isaiah 2:7–9 (CSB): Their land is full of silver and gold,
and there is no limit to their treasures;
their land is full of horses,
and there is no limit to their chariots.
8 Their land is full of worthless idols;
they worship the work of their hands,
what their fingers have made.
9 So humanity is brought low,
and each person is humbled.

Did you notice that he said Israel was brought down through being full of their physical lives? By worshipping what they perceived as their own accomplishments? They were God’s nation, they wore His name for the world to see. They were chosen to be full of God Himself, but they had forgotten Him. Oh, they carried out the temple rituals, never missed a festival, and knew the law well enough to weaponize it against each other, but they had forgotten Him. They were full of themselves instead.

We live in a time when human propensity for self-worship is on blatant display. Humans arrogantly hold patents on God-created organisms and promote their own derivitive and inferior work as the answer to all problems. We divide into parties and subparties based on opinions we uphold as fact, and bash our fellow humans about the head with principles we refuse to actually embody.

Self-worship is to be expected from those who reject God openly, and God spent time in scripture rebuking them, but most often His scathing words were directed at His own chosen nation. Unfortunately, though His nation is no longer physical, those who claim His name haven’t really changed. We say we trust Him, we say we’re devoted to Him, but when it comes down to a choice we choose humanity’s creation and ideals over God’s.

Isaiah’s words to Israel about this behavior were poignent. Isaiah 2:22 (CSB): Put no more trust in a mere human,
who has only the breath in his nostrils.
What is he really worth?

Remember Genesis 2? All we have really is the breath in our nostrils, and that is His as well. His breath is the sole reason for our existence. We accomplish nothing. He created everything. Without Him, we are worthless piles of dust. With Him, we are simply the breath in His nostrils.