“God does His best work in the Dark”
Genesis 1:1-2
This is the beginning, the start of everything. It is often called the dateless past or even a better term is eternity past. It is not bound by the limitations of time, because the beginning actually started before time began. Realize that God transcends time; He is not bound by the limitations of times. God doesn’t exist in time; however, time exists within God. For example time operates in 3 realms, the past, the present, and the future. It takes us a life time to go from the past, to the present, to the future, but God transcends time, He is in our past, our present, and our future. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever more, WHY, because He is not limited to time so to Him there is no difference from yester-past, present-day, or future. He is not limited to the boundaries of time for He created time.
“IN THE BEGINNING” - : The Bible says in Revelation 22:13 “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.” This is God speaking and He says He is the beginning. Therefore in the beginning is in God or in the mind of God and since God transcends time, He has neither a beginning or and ending, when we read this verse “In the beginning” we can literally say in God or in the mind of God.
Understand that this is the foundation of the Bible. If you cannot believe this verse of the Bible than you are not able to believe any other part of the Bible. If you believe that some kind of cosmic explosion or big bang theory happened then it is impossible for you to believe any thing else that happened in the Bible. If you are one of the people that find this verse to be unscientific than there is no way for you to be able to understand that God, who is a spirit wrapped himself in flesh, was born of a virgin, died on Calvary, was buried in the grave, stayed there for 3 days, rose again so that you and I can have eternal life. If you cannot believe this verse then you might as well just close up your Bible and never open it again because this verse is the foundation of the rest of the story (as Paul Harvey would say).
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” The word created comes from the Hebrew word “BARA” it means to take nothing and create something. Out of nothing, God, the beginning, created the heaven and the earth. In verse #10 we find that God called the dry ground earth, but before I get into that I want you to see something.
Numbers in the Bible play a very significant role, but don’t be mislead into believing that every number must mean something. Mainly the numbers 1 – 12 & 40, 50, 70, 120, 144,000 are the main numbers that have meanings; the other numbers are mostly combinations of numbers. However the number 10 means Divine Order, thus we have the 10 commandments, there were 10 plagues that fell upon Egypt, in Jewish customs there is what is called the Minyan it states that a meeting could not be held unless there were 10 people present representing Divine Order. Well there are 10 words in the 1st verse of the 1st chapter of the 1st book of the Bible which is Genesis, which means beginning, who is God. This lets us know that the beginning of all was the Divine Order of God and not of some kind of cosmic explosion because there is nothing divine or orderly about an explosion.
“In the beginning God create the heaven and the earth.” In verse #10 it says and God called the dry ground earth. Now we could get into a great discussion here, but that’s another lesson. For those that are like me and I pray that you are, will fall under the category of what is called a “Gap Theorist”. Gap Theorist believe that something chaotic happened between verse #1 & verse #2 of Genesis chapter 1, and if you study your Bible and read Ezekiel chapter #28, Isaiah 14, & Colossians the 1st chapter you will understand that it is within this so-called gap that Lucifer, the anointed cherubim rebelled against God, became lifted up in pride, which caused God to judge him, find iniquity in him, cast him out of heaven to earth as lightning. This caused the earth to go into a state of chaos. Many Gap Theorist believe, as I do, that as a result God’s judgment fell upon the earth in the form of a flood, which has been called Lucifer’s flood. Now some may not believe this and that is fine because that deals more with history rather than salvation, but I encourage you to study.
The 2nd verse says “And the earth was without form and void…” The phrase “without form indicated that there was no consistency, there was no substance. The word void means empty, desolate, without any habitation, lifeless. “And darkness was upon the face of the deep…” The word darkness appears 143 times in the Bible. As I stated earlier numbers play a very significant role in the Bible; however, 143 by itself really doesn’t have a meaning, but the combination of the numbers do, 1 + 4 + 3 = 8. The #8 means new beginning. It is within this darkness that there comes a new beginning.
“Darkness was upon the face of the deep…” The deep represents water, water is a life source that we cannot live without, but when water becomes a flood it is destructive and a chaotic force, destroying everything in its path. “Darkness was upon the face of the deep…” Darkness & confusion.
“And the spirit of God…” There is something that is called the “Law of First Mention”. What the law of first mention says is the 1st time something is mentioned in scripture it dictates how that thing will act every time it is mentioned throughout the entire Bible. Here we have the 1st mention of the Spirit of God. The Bible says “and the Spirit of God moved…” The word move is a verb an action word, the Spirit of God is action, “and the Spirit of God moved…” There is something that I want you to see here even more than the spirit of God moved, but when it moved. It moved when darkness was upon the face of the deep, it moved when the absence of light was in effect, it moved when chaos was all around it moved upon the face of the waters, that destructive force, it moved.
“God does His best work in the Dark” You may be going through a dark point in your life, chaos is causing you to feel without form, there may seem to be no consistency in your life, you may even be wondering what is it all worth. There may be a void in your life that you may have tried to fill with everything imaginable, drugs, sex, alcohol, gambling, work only to still feel a void down on the inside. Darkness may have overshadowed your very existence, you may be caught in the darkest of dark times in your life, but understand that God does His best work in the Dark.
Example: - Here’s an example to try “Turn out all the lights, close your eyes and try to walk without bumping into anything. It is impossible, but the Spirit of God is not limited to the impossible and in the midst of darkness can moved through the darkness; therefore, if you are lead by the Spirit in the midst of the darkness He will lead you around any obstacles and dangers that the devil has placed before you, for He said I will lead and guide you in all truth, the truth is He will not let you bump into or fall over anything.
The Spirit of God is able to work in the dark but you can’t. The Bible says in John 9:4 “I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day; the night (darkness) cometh, when no man can work.” Man is not able to work in the dark because he is man and is not able to see, but God is a Spirit and in the darkness the Spirit moved.
Let’s talk about the darkness. People don’t like the darkness because it is unfamiliar territory. We don’t like the darkness because we don’t know how long we will have to be in the darkness and we cannot see in the darkness. However, it is in the darkness that God is developing our character. He is taking that formless nature and “BARA” creating a new creature. He is filling that void with His Agape Love, when in the darkness. The trials and tribulations we go through are dark times in our lives, but I read in Romans 5:3-5 “And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulations worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed because the love (Agape) of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost (Spirit) which is given unto us.”
The Holy Ghost is the Spirit of God & the Spirit of God moves in the dark which was that trial and tribulation. Eventhough it was dark the Spirit moved, now I have patience to wait on the Lord, before the darkness I was impatient, if I didn’t get it right now I would go into a chaotic state of mind, but in the darkness God formed my character and now I have patience. I have experience now to realize that since He brought me out of that situation I know He will bring me out of this one, how do I know that because I have experience, the last time I went through he formed me in the darkness. And because of experience I have the hope that this to shall pass and as Andre Crouch said “Soon and very soon I am going to see the King.”
It may be dark in you situation right now. You may feel as though you are about to loose your mind. The mortgage collector said they are going to repossess your house, your car may be broken down, you may even be unemployed, your life is without form and void, trouble is raging on every hand and you are in utter darkness understand that it is within this darkness that GOD DOES HIS BEST WORK just keep on holding on to His unchanging hand.
Elder Melvin L. Maughmer, Jr
Boanerge Ministries
