In the Beginning (Part 2)

You’re a patient group of friends, always putting up with my ramblings and rumblings!

Last week I shared some thoughts from Genesis 1:1, and today I’d like to focus on Genesis 1:2 … The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

Whatever was was not yet beautiful, because God our Creator had not yet made it beautiful. In the words of C.S. Lewis: “All that is made seems planless to the darkened mind, because there are more plans than it looked for. In these seas there are islands where the hairs of the turf are so fine and so closely woven together that unless a man looked long at them he would see neither hairs nor weaving at all, but only the same and the flat. So with the Great Dance.” I wish that I could interview the great professor so that he could explain to me all of the nuances of what he intended to communicate there, but I think I get the thrust of it: the Sovereign God of the universe is so unfathomably above and beyond us that we can’t ever fully grasp His ways. But, and these are my words now, we can trust that all His ways are nothing but good.

The things of the Lord are “foolishness” (1 Corinthians 2:14) to the person who doesn’t know Christ by faith. But, even for those of us who follow Christ and who deeply desire to understand the Bible, there are parts of the Creation account that are downright difficult to comprehend. I think it’s O.K. for us to admit that. And the Bible’s second verse is one of those passages that tends to yield a plethora of interpretations. Part of the reason for the confusion stems from the fact that multiple English translations insert a connecting word at the beginning of the verse (specifically, “now” or “as”). For example … Now the earth was formless and empty …

The reason for adding a connecting word (or not) is a matter of relatively complex Hebrew linguistics, but suffice it to say that the opening clause of Genesis 1:2 is circumstantial in nature. It’s not intended to communicate timing (as we might normally think when we hear the word “now”) as much as it is intended to describe the circumstances of Genesis 1:1. Nevertheless, in about the year 1814 (and I think it was launched in Edinburgh, Scotland), there began to circulate various interpretations of Genesis 1:2 which opened the door for a long period of time between the verses. You may have heard of the “gap theory,” and I’m attempting to describe the reason for the perceived gap. If you’re interested in my take on it, I don’t believe that the language of the text itself intends to communicate a time gap. I’m not going to fight over that, but I owe it to you to at least state my personal conviction.

What is of even more importance to me is the mind-boggling description of the Spirit of God here. Against the backdrop of a formless earth is this powerful presence of the Ruach Elohim. Genesis 6:17 will translate that first word (“Spirit”) as “breath of life,” and Genesis 8:1 will translate it as “wind.” Wow! Wow! Wow! So, back to Genesis 1:2, the waters don’t yet contain any life … but we already know that there is hope for life … and we already know the source of the new life that will soon be described quite beautifully by the Scriptures.

I’m so glad to be able to tell you today that the Holy Spirit has always been! From the vantage point of Creation I’m getting ahead of myself, but I want you to celebrate with me that it is the Spirit of God who applies the work of Christ to us personally (John 16:13). He (not “It”) bears powerful witness for Jesus (1 John 5:7-8). He teaches us gospel truth (John 14:26). He fills us (Ephesians 5:18) with spiritual life! And I’ve just barely scratched the surface.

Earlier this month and 70 miles from here in Hurricane Mills, at the age of 90, country music legend Loretta Lynn passed into glory. Her 60-year career included four Grammys and a multitude of other distinguished awards, but her early life – if you know anything about the “Coal Miner’s Daughter” – was anything but picture perfect. That she would ever be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom would have been unthinkable from the perspective of the young girl for whom poverty and chaos would mark much of her childhood and young adult life. I tell a snippet of her story not to exalt her in any idolatrous fashion, but rather to exalt the God whom Loretta learned to trust. From a 2020 interview, these are Loretta’s own words: “I pray a lot. I think God is always with me. When I need Him, I know He’s there. He’s been with me and pulled me through stuff that I didn’t even know I was going through until it was over. And when it did hit me, and I realized that God had been with me the whole time, that made all the difference to me. He’s gotten me through everything, good and bad, and that fills my heart with peace.”

“It hit me,” said Loretta. Friends, I hope it hits us too. There is holy in the hover.

What seems chaotic about your world today? Don’t be fooled! Christ is very much alive and in charge. You can trust Him. He specializes in making masterpieces out of madness.

Yours by grace,

Pastor Charles