Published by Creator God, is the first title under which God, Our Father revealed himself to mankind. According to the bible, we know that in its very beginning, Genesis 1:1(New InternationalVersion), “God created the heavens and the earth.” But as we get busy in our daily lives and come into God’s presence on a regular basis we sometimes forget that He is still, not only The Creator but also the Re-creator.
It was a hot summer day when I was sitting in the chapel pouring out my heart to God as if He did not already know what was going on. I explained how chaotic and in disarray my life was. I could not get a handle on my career, my job, my finances and my family. My best friends with whom I can discuss spiritual and professional concerns were leaving my workplace for better paying jobs and even though I was highly qualified, God was not opening new job opportunities for me. I was frustrated and disappointed for I was sure I was spending over 2 hours in God’s company everyday praying for others as well as myself. He was allowing the others to succeed, leaving me behind. What was He doing with me? I knew He had a good plan for the future for me because He made a promise in Jeremiah 29:11.
As I continued in my contemplative meditation in silence and solitude in God’s presence, I could hear deep down in my
spirit, “chaos theory.” Vaguely remembering that this theory had taken on a new position in management studies, I left the chapel to do some research. Research confirmed what I had recalled, that order and harmony evolves out of chaos and disorder in ways that are unpredictable (Kyburz, 2004).
I started to replay by memory the concept of systems theory but immediately the Holy Spirit nudged me to read the creation story of Genesis. Although I have known the story of creation ever since childhood, I was struck by the bible verse of Genesis 1:2 that says, ”Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep. I recognized that my life had become just like the situation at which The Creator was looking down before He used his creativity -chaotic and with no concept of His order and direction.
Many of us find ourselves as captives of chaos and confusion. As the American and global economies continue their downturn, more of us will find ourselves slipping into chaos, perhaps depression and desperation. The story of creation in Genesis:1, can have a new perspective for you as it did for me.
God calls on us to invite the Holy Spirit to hover over our waters of confusion, chaos and emptiness. It was that same Spirit of God that was hovering over the waters in pre-creation
(Genesis 1:2). As we expose our situation and allow The Father, Jesus and His Holy Spirit to come in our lives, God’s words can change the darkness into light as he did in Gen:1:3. Not only did God speak His word and differentiated light as good and dark as bad but immediately in the next verse, God separated the light form the dark (Gen.1:4). As we yield and give Him charge of our chaos God reveals the differences in the good light and the bad dark of our situations and He calls on us to separate ourselves from the dark. He opens our eyes and removes our blindness and so we see better and can understand our situation in the context of our environment. As the Holy Spirit continues to hover over our chaos and begins to bring order, we understand that separations must occur because just like He did in Genesis, God separates the earthly from the heavenly. Remember, God has called us as a people set apart, a holy people (1Pe.2:9). He will regroup us by moving some people into our lives and exiting some out of our lives and He will shift us into new communities or relationships so that we can fulfill His purpose here on earth (Gen.1:9). Only in the relationships in which he regroups us can we bear fruit as the land bore fruit in Genesis 1:11. Only through people and relationships can we experience the working of His Holy Spirit.
Today, let us open the door and bring God into our chaos like in the management chaos theory. Let’s give Him a chance to start “a new thing” in our life, so that He can fulfill His purpose in us (Isa.43:19). Even though over 5,000 years ago He declared himself as the Creator, today Our Father continues to create in us a new heart and a pure hand, whenever we repent and ask. He is not only the Creator but day and after day, year after year, job after job, government after government, chaos after chaos, Elohim is creating and recreating us just like the potter remolds the brokenness of his clay vessels. We must allow ourselves to be remolded according to His image as He originally intended. In the midst of our despair and confusion God can do something if we allow Hom. He can use our situation to accomplish His purpose while we continue to remain “in” the world and not “of” the world. Remember the words of preacher, Jose Cabajar who cautions that a newly formed vessel cannot be used yet, unless it passes through the fire (Cabajar, 2004). According to Cabajar, the potter continuously adjusts the position of the vessel in order to mold it into the masterpiece he desires. Let us therefore look at our chaos with the flashlight of the Holy Spirit and try to understand what Our
Father wants to do, instead of asking Him to change our location or position. He may be separating us, revealing new things to us, regrouping us and recreating new opportunities. Let us ask Him to reveal to us His heavenly thoughts and plans for us so that whatever is going on we will cooperate with Him to fulfill His divine purpose. Things make look like a maze, but there is a pattern that we can discover through the maze if we allow His Holy Spirit to hover over our stormy waters.
