Skip to main content

Out of Chaos

How do we deal with devastation, sweeps of destruction caused by nature? Where is God? Didn’t he create this? Now all we see is a mess. On the 11th March 2011 an earthquake hit Japan, a Tsunami, swept inland, gobbling up buildings, cars, homes and people as if they was just another grain of sand on the beach.
How do I as a Christian respond to such terror, to such pain? I have to go back to the beginning, creation.

God spoke, light.
God spoke, seperate, land and water.
God spoke, Earth green up.
God spoke, Fish swarm, birds fly.
God spoke, Earth generate life.
God spoke, let’s make human.

God spoke and into being came sky, land, light, creature of every kind, food, vegetation and human beings.What was there before? The message bible puts it ‘a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness.’

Nothing, emptiness. How about Chaos? God spoke into chaos, and out of it came order. God spoke and the chaos ended and life begun.

Thousands of years later a guy who seemed like no ordinary guy, who was no ordinary guy shows up, and is different to anything, to anyone that has come before. People who are blind, who can’t see are healed at his words. Jesus spoke and chaos stopped. People who were demonized, were set free by his words. Jesus spoke and from their chaos they were set free. One day Jesus was on a boat with his followers and a storm kicked up, worse than any of these seasoned fishermen had experienced. Jesus woke up, and he spoke and the storm was stilled. Jesus spoke and out of chaos, came calm, came order. Haven’t we seen that before? Could this be God? This is God.

Why is this important? If your car regularly breaks, you will take it to the mechanic that has always fixed it before. Why? Because you know he can do it. You may not know why it happened, why it broke, but you know the person that can fix it.

We may not understand why some things happen, why there is mass devastation around our world, why nation rises up against nation, why dictators would rather tighten their grip and squeeze life out of their people than be humble and step down. But we do know the God who speaks, and when he does, out of chaos comes order, who speaks and out of chaos comes life.

At the end of time, we are told he will speak again, and all pain and suffering will end. Until then, when chaos ensues, remember the God who speaks and brings order out of chaos.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I don’t know what to do.

I don’t know what to do. I’m sure we’ve all said it, or at the very least, thought it. Perhaps you know the desired outcome, you just don’t know how to get there. Reflecting recently, I recognised that this would be a great name for my autobiography (if I ever wrote one). Beth (my wife) often says to me I’m really good at blagging it, which in my job is kind of a strength and weakness. I’m not sure if ‘blagging it’ is the best way to describe this particular gifting of mine, perhaps ‘thinking on the spot’ or ‘ being adaptive’ would be better. At it’s best this particular gift allows me to respond to a crisis or issue as soon as it is presented, perhaps someone is struggling with something pastorally that I’ve never had to deal with before, and it is helpful being able to navigate these situations. At it’s worst, I don’t prepare as much as I should for a talk, or training evening, and can to some extend wing it. Either way I’m grateful that these experiences haven’t killed me (yet). Wha...
Post a Comment
Read more

A year of Intentional discipline.

Each year, like many, I review the year that has gone and look ahead to the year to come. I have a journal I call my Eagle Journal, where I try and write something every day. It doesn’t have to be anything particularly profound, sometimes it’s a quote from a TV programme or book, other times it’s a funny quote from someone, or a summary of what has happened that day. I love how it has enabled me to remember things that I otherwise would have forgotten, like the date of our first ever baby scan, or times I laughed uncontrollably with friends. We are often waiting for the next big thing to happen in our lives, to the extent that we miss the significance of the innumerable small things.  The review I then do of the year, looks back at my favourite quotes, moments, books and films. Straight after the review in my journal, I then look to the year ahead. I write about my expectations and goals for the year to come, and I will also give the year a description, based on what I know or sens...
Post a Comment
Read more