"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was empty, a formless mass cloaked in darkness. And the Spirit of God was hovering over its surface. And God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light.....then He separated the light from the darkness." Genesis 1:1-3....."The first thing God creates out of chaos is light.....God makes beautiful things out of chaos." Danielle Strickland
Chaos. Darkness. We fear both. We fear many other things as well, but I think all of our fears flow out of the chaos and darkness of this world system. A system our flesh can so easily become enslaved to. In the comfortable, ease loving western church, we have no place for the presence of either. Our impulse is to be as far from them as we can. Indeed, our expectation is that the Father would keep us as far and protected from them as He can. The fact that He did not do this with Christ, the apostles, or any of the surrendered followers of Christ throughout the Bible and history is lost on us. Our thought is "That was then. This is now." And "now" bears little resemblance to "then" in our minds and thinking. We're thankful that the Lord Jesus walked a path through that very darkness and chaos for us, but we never think that our walk will in any way resemble His. His path led to Golgotha. We believe ours will lead to the fulfillment of what the western culture calls "the good life."
I recently heard it said that William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, said to those who served with Him, "Find the place of deepest darkness in your world and go to it." Once there, they were to be His great light in the midst of it. His order in the midst of the chaos. Does that sound anything like our heart purpose? A.W. Tozer said, "Churches cannot deny that they are too comfortable, too rich, too contented! We hold the faith of our fathers, but it does not hold us." We're happy to be where God is, so long as where He "is" is pleasant, rewarding, and holds no pain. Our flesh has always been so. Exodus 20:21 reads, "As the people stood in the distance, Moses entered into the deep darkness where God was." All the people saw was chaos and darkness. Moses saw God. He knew that not only was He in that cloud of darkness, but that He was in complete control of all of it. This knowledge delivered him from the fear and paralysis that gripped the people. Do we live in such knowledge? Or, does life always find us standing off in the distance, never really encountering the God of Light? Never beholding Christ who is Light. Never discovering and living in the freeing truth that in Christ, "all things (do) hold together." Even in the deepest darkness and most intense chaos.
Genesis 1 says that the Spirit "hovered" over the darkness. He still hovers over all darkness and chaos. Darkness is not darkness to Him, for He is pure Light and there can be no darkness where He is. Darkness and chaos may be hovering over your life, but it is not hovering over Him. His Light, as His Word promises, always breaks through the darkness. His Light pierces that darkness. Not just from the outside in, but inside out as well. Out of the formless void and darkness, He brought forth a beautiful creation. He is and always will be, The Creator, and He will create beauty out of the ashes of darkness, and be glorified for the wonders He does in the midst of all chaos. You may see darkness and chaos everywhere today. Indeed, such is already upon us. He would have you, us, see Him in its midst. Behold Him in the midst of it. I read somewhere that to behold Him is to be changed. When we truly behold Him in even the darkest most turbulent place, we really are changed, and the power of those places is broken. The cannot hold Him and they will not hold us. No amount of chaos can shake Him, so it cannot shake we who live and abide in Him. The deepest darkness cannot hide Him from us, for He will always reveal Himself in it to all those whose hearts long to behold Him. In the encroaching darkness, let's not flee from it, but run to Him who is already there. We will find, contrary to all the enemy would have us believe, that He is Lord there. That He reigns. And in Him, so do we.
Blessings,
Pastor O
Genesis 1 says that the Spirit "hovered" over the darkness. He still hovers over all darkness and chaos. Darkness is not darkness to Him, for He is pure Light and there can be no darkness where He is. Darkness and chaos may be hovering over your life, but it is not hovering over Him. His Light, as His Word promises, always breaks through the darkness. His Light pierces that darkness. Not just from the outside in, but inside out as well. Out of the formless void and darkness, He brought forth a beautiful creation. He is and always will be, The Creator, and He will create beauty out of the ashes of darkness, and be glorified for the wonders He does in the midst of all chaos. You may see darkness and chaos everywhere today. Indeed, such is already upon us. He would have you, us, see Him in its midst. Behold Him in the midst of it. I read somewhere that to behold Him is to be changed. When we truly behold Him in even the darkest most turbulent place, we really are changed, and the power of those places is broken. The cannot hold Him and they will not hold us. No amount of chaos can shake Him, so it cannot shake we who live and abide in Him. The deepest darkness cannot hide Him from us, for He will always reveal Himself in it to all those whose hearts long to behold Him. In the encroaching darkness, let's not flee from it, but run to Him who is already there. We will find, contrary to all the enemy would have us believe, that He is Lord there. That He reigns. And in Him, so do we.
Blessings,
Pastor O
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