How do you create a new life? How do you begin when you have nothing to build with? Or when every brick you put down crumbles? How do you start over when you’re starting from scratch? What steps should you follow?
The Bible girl in me eventually returned to Scripture. There in Genesis 1:2, right where I paused my deep dive, I found my answer. My answer was in God’s position. He was above it all—hovering. See, it’s right there in the book:
The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
~ Genesis 1:2
The Spirit of God hovered over all of it—all of the chaos, emptiness, and darkness. The Hebrew words translated “was hovering” and “over” are merăhĕpĕt and ‘ăl. They mean to “circulate” and “above,” respectively.[1]
God wasn’t agitated or overwhelmed at the sight of the universe’s unformed state. Nor was he stuck or frozen by the task before him. No, our God was freely moving above it all. He was moving in place, circulating above—not swirling aimlessly or moving frantically like a hamster on a wheel.
His movements were light and quick as they prepared his creation for his next creative acts, his commands, which followed.
On the contrary, our God was hovering peacefully, calmly. His movements were light and quick as they prepared his creation for his next creative acts, his commands, which followed. And when God is creating us, when it’s our turn to be formed, again he moves, preparing us and all we need to fulfill our purpose and visions—lining us up so he can look upon us, experience us, be pleased with us, and, in the end, call us good.
I don’t know about you, but discovering that God’s first act in the creation story was hovering gave me pause—and the realization also provided insight into the first step in God’s creative process. So let’s take a beat and rest here for a moment or two.
[1]See John H. Walton, Genesis (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2001), 78; and G. L. Carr, “1624 עָלָה,” in Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, ed. R. Laird Harris, Gleason L. Archer Jr., and Bruce K. Waltke (Chicago: Moody Press, 1999), electronic ed., 666.
Taken from When Your World Ends by Dawn Mann Sanders
Chapter 4, “First Stop, Limbo: God’s Creative Process, Step One—Remain Connected”
