Tag: darkness

No “God-forsaken” places

Posted on by jovial_cynic
Genesis 1:2 introduces us to a word that we translate as “darkness.” The Hebrew word hints at misery, destruction, death.

The book in the Bible that uses this word more than any other is Job. Job uses this word twenty three times.

He knows darkness.

But Genesis 1:2 introduces us to another word. The “ruah” of God. The “Spirit” of God. The “Breath of God” that hovers over the same dark waters.

In the darkness, God is there, too. There are no God-forsaken places. No God-forsaken people.

Let there be Light.

Hope for the Hopeless

Posted on by jovial_cynic
A story of hope makes sense only to those who first know the story of hopelessness.

“I will fix this” is a message for those who know brokenness.

Light makes sense in the context of darkness.

But this is not the same as “first, know you are a sinner.”

Genesis 1, which sets up the proper order of things, doesn’t blame the creation for its own darkness, or the land for its barrenness.

It simply acknowledges that it is. And then God fixes it: Light and Life.

Evening and Morning

Posted on by jovial_cynic
Perhaps God instructed Israel start their day with the evening instead of the following morning because we must remember the proper order of things: it was dark first, but we remember that God brought the light.

God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning–the first day.

Genesis 1:5 (NIV)

Sad in the Beginning

Posted on by jovial_cynic
Genesis 1:2 begins with a profoundly sad state of things. It shows the world, but I think that for many of us who have “deconstructed” and felt broken off from heaven, we feel like the earth that’s shown in this verse.

Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
Genesis 1:2 (NIV)

But God is there. And the next verse is blessed hope.

Responsibility

Posted on by jovial_cynic

God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.
Genesis 1:4 (NIV)

In Genesis 1:4, it is God who separates light from darkness.

God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good.
Genesis 1:16-18 (NIV)

But in Genesis 1:16-18, the ongoing responsibility of keeping darkness separate from light is given to the two great lights and the stars in the sky.

We are the light of the world. It is also our responsibility.

Theology Summarized

Posted on by jovial_cynic

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
Genesis 1:1-3 (NIV)

Genesis 1:1-3 is the foundation of my entire theology: There is darkness, but God brings light into it and drives the darkness out of us. In as much as we are the light of the world, bearing His image, God drives out the darkness through us.