“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.” – Genesis 1:1-3

Notes:

Despite many popular beliefs and creationists views, the creation of the earth was not on the first day of creation.  Before the first day, earth was originally a dark abyss like world, a great chasm of chaotic waters that existed.  As the Spirit of God began to hover over this, God spoke, and light, and life and order were brought into that place, forming the earth that we live on today.  However, one the greatest insights that we can get from the passage above is one of the most powerful functions of the Spirit of God.  Where there is darkness, chaos, and emptiness, the Spirit of God broods and hovers over, relaying back to God the Father to send light.  

Frustrated and still upset from a recent phone call with his wife that evening, a middle aged man out of town on a business trip, staggers into the hotel room around midnight.  Drenched in sweat, and the smell of alcohol perforating out his body, he makes his way to the bedroom with an unknown stranger he had met that night wrapped around his right arm.  Inside he feels isolated and angry. An immense gulf of chaotic abyss lives within him. Darkness is over the surface of his deep.  As he comes across the wedding band tucked in his shirt pocket, the thought runs through his mind, “she will never find out, and maybe she’s doing the same thing, after all, she doesn’t really love me anyways.”  Meanwhile, his 22 year old son, who just got put in jail for underage possession and intent to distribute, leans his head against the cold cell bars with shame and guilt in his heart. Also at the same moment in time, their 12 year old daughter back home lies silently in her bed weeping on her pillow as she thinks back on the horrible fight that her parents had earlier that evening, and gazing over at the empty bed next to her that her brother slept in.  She prays softly while tears run down her cheeks, “God, will you help my family?”   

Willing to Take the Challenge?

The story above is simply a reality of the many broken families across this world.  When the Spirit of God hovers over their darkness and chaos, He relays back to God the Father “Speak Light! Speak Light!” When we see those that are broken and void, we should intercede as well and bring the same petition to the Father, “speak light to these hurting people oh God, speak your Word, Jesus, to them, so that their darkness, despair and emptiness may be replaced with your light, life, love, and order!”