In The New Beginning

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 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.
And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. Genesis 1:1-3

In the New Beginning!
By Rev. William Dohle

In the beginning...the house was a mess! Boxes had just arrived and everything was out of place. The beds hadn't even been put up and the movers were just moving the last of the things in.

And God said... Let there be order!
And there was order!

But the order took a while to come to pass. Slowly things started happening. Beds and dressers were covered and filled. Books started moving to the shelves. Pictures to the walls. Slowly the chaos that had first overcome the little house and the lives of the pastor and his family started to subside...and order came upon them all.

I love these first verses from Genesis because it reminds me that things don't start out all in order. In the beginning there is chaos! But also in the beginning there is God! Chaos is seen in the waters of the deep. But God is present moving over those waters. Organizing in his mind what will soon become an ordered and structured universe.

Then God speaks to the chaos: "Let there be light!" And the chaos responds! Light comes from darkness. A dome appears in the midst of the waters, separating them from each other. Earth appears. Land! The land itself starts to generate life! God speaks to the earth and the earth responds! And all of a sudden...life and order come from chaos!

Our lives are filled with endings...and beginnings. Endings come and things become a mess. Our possessions are thrown literally into boxes at times. Everything is out of place. Endings come and our lives literally fall apart at times. Our things...our families...our health is ripped away from us. And we're left wondering what we should do with all this chaotic mess.

But then God speaks to that chaos. God speaks to it...and miracles happen! Life is put back together in a new and a different order. Light appears out of darkness. A new hope is born. And suddenly we realize that God has been with us this whole time. Through the ending that was, at times, painful. And now as this new beginning takes birth. God is with us, hovering over our chaotic waters, putting right that once went wrong, and giving us a hope and a future.

He did it at the beginning. And God will do the same in every single one of our beginnings now and forever! Amen!

Almighty God, your Spirit hovered over the chaotic waters and breathed life and order into what was death and chaos. Give us that same Spirit that our beginnings might be like the beginning and we might hear our voice speaking life into all our darkness, through Christ our Lord. Amen.