Genesis 1:1-2 (NRSV)
Read Genesis 1:1-2 on biblegateway.com
Chapter 1In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, Verse 2the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.
Devotion
We begin with God hovering over the unformed waters, ready to begin the journey of creation. The waters are the deep chaos and the unformed nothingness awaiting God's Word to become part of creation.
Before speaking the world into existence, God is already there as breath, wind, Spirit—all three present in the Hebrew word ru'ah [ROO-ach]. This ru'ah is God's breath pushing back chaotic waters to keep them from breaking free, God's wind stirring up stagnant waters so they might receive the breath of life and the Holy Spirit brooding over the waters, preparing for the birth of all living things. These pictures of creation call to mind God's work in our own baptismal waters. God's breath surrounds our sin and puts it to death. And for the sake of all, we are, like the chaotic waters of creation, constrained and given limits.
As in creation, God's wind stirs and awakens us. Where there was nothingness, now we are poised, ready to become what God would have us be. By that same Spirit we are made alive.
Prayer
Creator God, restrain me, birth me and stir me to life this day and always.
Amen.