Today…I want to talk to you about God’s ability to bring order where there’s chaos.
Scenes of Chaos:
My Daughter's Bedroom (came home to find it swarming with termites)
Tornado aftermath (Joplin)
Mt. St. Helens (aftermath)
Sometimes our lives can become chaotic. At times…the chaos is inevitable…situations / circumstances out of our own control can create chaos. Still…there are times where our own action / inaction is the source of the chaos we are experiencing.
Psalm 51:10 (NIV) - “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”
So this is David’s prayer after being confronted by the prophet Nathan about his affair with Bathsheba and the killing of her husband, Uriah.
David is repentant. He’s humbled. But his life is filled with chaos as a result of his own choices.
Listen to the wording The Message Bible uses when expressing David’s prayer in Ps. 51:10. “God, make a fresh start in me, shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life.”
Fresh Starts are great! Clearing the deck. Wiping the slate clean. New beginnings. I love a clean…blank piece of paper. New…clean sheets on the bed! A new book.
Example: Golf (Muligan)
David cries out…God…give me a mulligan! A do-over! A fresh-start! A Genesis week!
“God, I can’t make a fresh start in my own power…step into my situation and bring order / peace to my chaos.”
“God…I’ve made a mess of things…forgive me…but don’t just forgive me…help me…turn things around!”
If something is “Fresh”…it is: New, not previously known, not stained or spoiled, youthful, healthy, vigorous, dynamic.
David is saying, “Lord, launch something creatively new and healthy in the innermost part of who I am…my heart…my mind…my soul.
David says, “Shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life.”
Example: Watching the glass blower at Silver Dollar City shape a lump glass into something beautiful.
That glass blower is: fashioning something…giving it definite shape…fabricating something beautifully formed out of something formless.
That’s what David is asking God to do…and that’s what God can do out of the chaos of your life as well. From the very beginning…God has taken chaos and created beauty in it’s place.
Genesis 1:1,2 - “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.”
The Message describes the state of things at the beginning of creation as being, “…a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness.”
The Living Bible puts it this way, “…the earth was a shapeless, chaotic mass.”
There is nothing hopeful in this…except…God’s Spirit was there…hovering over the chaos.
And it’s into this soup of nothingness…this bottomless emptiness…this inky blackness…this chaotic mess…that God starts to bring order. God brings meaning and significance and beauty where there had been only chaos.
God is still doing the same thing today. The H.S. was hovering over the chaos of David’s life…and He’s hovering over the chaos of your life…just waiting to respond to God’s creative, life-giving, declarative Word over your life.
And when God speaks:
He gives form to the formless.
He fills the empty places with good things.
He brings life and light to the darkest of places.
He takes the clutter and puts things where they belong.
He takes what is lacking and makes it excessively good.
He takes the depleted…and brings increase.
He takes things & people who have no significance…and uses them to accomplish monumental / eternal things.
He takes hopeless / dark / utter confusion…and speaks vision / brings light / and delivers peace…where there was none.
I’m here to remind you…there has never been a time God was not. There has never been a time…God wan’t in control. He was there before the chaos…He was there when there was nothing but chaos…and He was there after the chaos. Think about this: Before there was a created “order”…there was a created “chaos” over which the Spirit hovered. Nothing catches God off guard. He never panics. We serve a God who brings order out of chaos. He can still take your mess and mine…and make something beautiful out of it.
We live in a chaotic world…filled with people who are living chaotic lives. Lives that are without form and void. Lives that are empty…lacking…in disarray…upheaval…shambles. There are so many people who are desparately in need of some kind of escape from the mess they’ve made from their lives. Can I just declare it to you?…We have the answer! We have a God that can take the most chaotic of situations and create something beautiful out of it all. We have a God that we can trust when things in life go wrong. Who brings order to the chaos of our lives.
God’s willingness and ability to bring order out of chaos is a central Biblical theme.
Adam & Eve
Jonah
The disciples and the calming of the Sea.
Psalm 139 tells me that there is nowhere God is not. That means He is with us…even when things are falling apart. He’s with us…in the chaos. Regardless of how it may feel at the time…regardless of how things may appear…we are not alone…God is at work. He can bring something out of nothing. My failure isn’t fatal. The darkness…the confusion…the turmoil…the chaos…isn’t the end of the story.
I believe God wants to bring a Genesis Week into the chaos of your life. I believe He wants to bring order to your mess. I believe His Spirit is hovering over the chaos of your life…even at this moment.
I believe He wants you to experience light instead of darkness. Order instead of chaos. Discernment instead of confusion. Energy, life, and vitality…instead of lethargy. Abundance instead of lack.
Perhaps you’re here and you…Like David could use a “Genesis Week.” You echo Psalm 51:10…“God…shape a Genesis Week from the chaos of my life.”
Good News…He is still in the creation business. In Revelation 21:5, Jesus says, “…Behold, I make all things new!”
He is here and He wants to do a new thing in…your SPIRIT!
He is here and He wants to do a new thing in your MIND!
He is here and He wants to do a new thing in your HOME!
He is here and He wants to renew your STRENGTH!
He is here today…and He wants to renew your BODY!
He is here here…and He wants to do a new thing in your FINANCES!
He is here to begin a new thing in your HEART.
He is here to do a new thing in your MARRIAGE.
He is here to do a new thing in your CAREER.
He is here…and…There is nothing HE can’t turn around!
There is no area of your life…He isn’t able to give a FRESH START!
He is a turn-around God!
He turns mourning into dancing.
He turns sackcloth into gladness!
The list could go on and on! In everyway…He is ready to meet you in your need. He is able to shape a Genesis week from the chaos of your life!
CLOSING:
I love comeback stories! (Larry Bird / The Patriots in the Super Bowl / Kirk Gibson)
One of my favorite stories is the story of Bernie Marcus. Bernie was the son of a poor Russian cabinet maker in Newark, New Jersey. In 1978, he was fired from a do-it-yourself retail store called HANDY DAN. What do you do when you’re fired from HANDY DAN? Well…Bernie teamed up with a guy named Arthur Blank…and they decided to start their own business. They opened their first store in Atlanta. It was called THE HOME DEPOT. Today…they have stores all over the world and their annual income is in the billions. Now…that’s a great comeback story!
Our God is the God of the Comeback!
Today…God wants to start something new in your life.
Today…God is wanting to put fresh wind in your sails.
Today…God wants to take those areas of your life that are lacking…and begin to prosper those very same areas. The days of barrenness are coming to an end.
Today…God is wanting to breathe new life into your spirit.
Today…God wants to take the chaos in your family, work, finances, health, emotions, and bring vitality.
Give Him your marriage.
Give Him your finances.
Give Him your health.
Give Him your children.
Give Him your job.
Give Him your future.
He can take it…regardless of how chaotic it’s become…and He can speak order and bring beauty into any situation.
