What does this new year look like for you? How will last year inform how this year will be lived out?
This year I decided to bring things back to ground zero in my life. The last five years have felt like a imploding vortex of dark chaos. Honestly I’d like to feel and see something different this year.
So to usher in the new year, I spent some time searching for a time and place in Scripture where this chaos was also happening. A place I could identify with.
Maybe you’ve done this before? A quick internet search … and a breath prayer …. looking for answers.
After searching, I found Genesis 1:1-2 … the very beginning of this world as we know it … ground zero.
“The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.” (Genesis 1:2 NLT version)
In the original language, “formless” literally means: confusion, unreality, emptiness, nothingness, wasteland, wilderness, a place of chaos …. And “darkness” literally, obscurity, darkness, a secret place (hidden).
So I found the verse that felt like a fit with the chaos and hiddenness of the last few years …
So the questions came.
How do I reframe and bring the things I don’t understand into clarity – how do I find a new perspective and some relief? How do I move forward when everything still feels directionless??
Genesis 1:2 in Young’s Literal Translation: “the earth hath existed waste and void, and darkness [is] on the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God, fluttering on the face of the water”
In the original language the word “hover”, literally means to grow soft, relax, hover and move, shake, to brood or flutter over.
So before creation even started, in the formless and empty time, God hovered, fluttered, brooded. He moved in this space of uncertain chaos, ready to speak a creative Word and bring change, order, and Light!
Today, as you ponder if God is active and present in your busyness and chaos,
I pray you find comfort in knowing that this is the first layer of action that God takes in His journey with you in your uncertainty and chaos – He hovers over you,
fluttering,
His heart is soft and tender towards you.
The subtle places that are hidden and maybe problematic – God’s Holy Spirit is hovering and brooding with you, He is ready to speak into that chaos and bring newness, and order – a hope and a future as Jeremiah 29:11 says.
So my friend, rest in the chaos and listen for what God is already speaking over you.
His peace is resting over you.
So is His love. His direction. His counsel.
Breathe slowly.
Inhale. Pause. Exhale.
You’ve got this – because God’s got you.
With Love,
Jenn
Prayer: God, Hover over me, and all that is dark, formless and empty in me.
Speak over me, And create in me what you will: A hope. A future. A vision for my life. Clarity.
In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
