The first image we
have of God in Scripture is of God's "breath" or "spirit"
hovering over the "face of the waters" in Genesis 1:2. This verse is exceedingly deep and mysterious
("...the earth was formless and void and darkness covered the face of the
deep, while a wind from God/the spirit of God hovered over the face of the
waters.") It conjures images of
primordial darkness and mysterious depths.
I remember reading this as a child and my mind would be filled with
really interesting images. I'm pretty
sure that's the point - the start of Genesis inspires our imaginations. There's a lot to unpack here, but I want to hit the high points briefly before moving to Psalm 29:
- I usually read from the NRSV, though I will also read from the ESV and NIV on occasion. Most translations say "the Spirit of God". "Breath from God" is not out of bounds, though. The word here in Hebrew is ruah (pronounced "ruwach") and can mean "breath, wind, spirit". It's the same thing that God breathed into Adam in Genesis 2:7. I imagine God's presence moving over the chaos of whatever there was before God spoke order into existence.
- For ancient peoples, "waters" were not relaxing or pleasant. The "waters" symbolized chaos and the unknown. Chaos was the great enemy. This image of the sea as chaos appears several places in Scripture - notably, in Job, when Jesus calms the storm, and several places in Revelation. We can probably throw the Exodus story in there as well. And it could lead to some really interesting places when we think about baptism.
- The word translated "hovered" is rachaph and can also mean "brooded" or "relaxed" - "brooded" makes me think of a mother hen whereas "relaxed" gives me an entirely different picture of God. In most ancient creation mythologies, the god/gods had to go through some struggle or engage in some kind of sexual act in order for the creation of our world to take place. In Genesis, we see a God that is pondering, hovering, brooding, relaxing over the fact of the waters. In other creation stories, if a god or gods were faced with chaos, it was usually represented by some kind of monster, often a sea monster (Job has a little bit of this when God mentions Leviathan). The god subdues the chaos monster and creation can begin. In Genesis, Elohim is chilling out over the water, just pondering, and then God speaks and begins to order existence. No fighting, just the voice of God.
That leads me to
Psalm 29, specifically the first part of verse 3: "The voice of the Lord
is over the waters". Given the
stuff I've mentioned about Genesis 1:2, this image gives me great comfort. Our lives get pretty chaotic sometimes. There are moments when I feel like I cannot
hold everything in my mind or that if somebody asks me to do one more thing,
I'm going to drop it all. For me, those
moments are fleeting, but for some of you, that happens quite often. Here's some encouragement for us - God's
voice is over our waters, waiting for us to hear His voice, so that He might bring
some order into our chaos. Not dogmatic,
legalistic, micro-managing order, but the order that Jesus talks about in the
Sermon on the Mount: "seek first the Kingdom of God and all these things will be added to
you."
And I think about
how difficult it is to hear God's voice when I feel like I'm drowning in the
waters of chaos (or stress or busy-ness).
What is helping me today is the possibility of Genesis 1:2 saying that
God was "brooding" over the face of the chaotic waters. Brooding, like a mother hen, waiting for new
life to emerge. God broods over our
chaos, speaking through the Spirit, through His Word, through other people,
through many other ways. God broods over
our chaos waiting for us to hear and to remember that God can bring order and
peace and new life even out of our worst messes.
I pray that you
might hear the voice of God in your own life today. I pray that when you feel overwhelmed and
your life seems chaotic, that you'll hear the voice of God's Spirit offering
you peace and new life.
Grace and Peace,
Wes
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