Let’s read Genesis 1:1-13. What do you notice, what gets your attention? What is created on each day? How is it created? What do you notice about the repetition of words?

Genesis 1:1-13- In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. 3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day. 6 And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” 7 So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day. 9 And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good. 11 Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.

The first observation, I want to make briefly is the last phrase. The Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. That word hovering is like an eagle flying over it’s next watching, protecting, be close to it’s babies. Spirit of God is the ruakh, breath, wind, energy force. We have this picture of the breath, wind, Spirit of God hovering over the earth, which was formless, empty, dark, and deep.

Next take a look at how the “earth” was described. It was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep … over the waters. I share that because the Hebrew word for formless and empty is tohu va-vohu. It’s just fun to say. What tohu va-vohu means is wasteness, laid waste, desert, emptiness, voidness. Other translations are place of chaos, wilderness, barren. And the word deep is translated tehom or abyss.

I share it in that way because we need to understand the state by which God created, there was barrenness, there was abyss, deep, it was empty of purpose, meaning and foundation, a place with no order. What we see right away is that God created order out of chaos.

With every mythical or cultural creation story there is a sense of going from chaos to order, but even the other “gods” of creation their stories are through force. What the God of Israel, Yahweh, shows us is that he is a God of order, one who forms. God doesn’t move creation from nothing to something. God moves creation from chaos to order. This is what God does, he moves life from chaos to order.

That in itself should begin to give us a clue for our personal lives. What do we do when our lives are in chaos? When they are formless, devoid of purpose, all over the place, crashing into things? Do we try to add more chaos or try to solve it on our own? OR do we go to the one who brings order to our chaos? Who brings purpose, form, direction?

Let’s take a shift for a moment. Think about this for a second, Jesus’ name isn’t directly on the pages of Genesis, granted, we’ll see in the next few weeks how we were created in the image of a Triune God; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But if Jesus says, “you have seen me, you have seen the Father.” The opposite is true as well. If we see the Father, we see Jesus. Which means, what is revealed at creation about God and does Jesus fulfill it?

Colossians 1:15-17- 15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

Jesus is creator and is before all things and holds all things together. Which, for a moment we need to pause and ask the question. What does Jesus need to create within your life? Knowing that creation is about bring order to chaos. Where is there chaos in your life? What is formless, void, purposeless? How do you need to let Jesus create, bring order to your chaos?

Which means, how do you apply verse 17, He is before all things. Is Jesus before all things in your life or is he after? An after-thought? Or after everything else that has priority in your life? You want a Savior, but you don’t want a Lord. You want a rescue, but you don’t want a King.

In what areas of your life are you holding onto chaos instead of allowing God to bring order, and what would it look like to surrender those areas to Him?