Do you know someone who seems confused, lacking in purpose and direction? Whose thoughts might go dark, with an unruly attitude that’s a bit hard to take? Or whose quirky and spontaneous actions often prove troubling? This scenario describes someone whose soul is lacking in spiritual formation. The person you are thinking of might even be you. As a teenager, this state of mind being in chaos could indeed have described me.
When first called into existence, the earth presented without any form or order. According to the divinely inspired account written by Moses around 1400 BC, the chaos appeared only as a stagnant mass of disconnected matter. The watery parts and the earthy ones were still undistinguished and blended together. No cohesion between the separate particles had yet bonded to create a united whole. This huge and turbid conglomeration of suspended substances, all shrouded with a thick darkness, remained in its unborn state for perhaps ages. It was, however, in the process of formation for the creative Spirit of God hovered over the surface of the waters preparing to organize the giant jumble.
In the original Hebrew language, the word used for hovered could be defined as fluttered lovingly, as birds spreading their wings over the eggs and young in their nest to keep them warm. This Spirit of God worked on the disorganized elements to combine, arrange, and develop them into a state that would support life on Earth. It was a gentle, careful, and sustained energy which tenderly called forth the dawning of the, until then, non-existent world. Great debate exists surrounding the length of the days in Genesis 1. Whether 24-hour days, millions of years, or 24-hour spurts with millions of years between the days, the creative progress continued in an attentive and orderly way.
The work of God’s creative power proceeds throughout the remainder of Scripture. The same wind or breath of God that spoke the world into existence would one day animate humankind, the beings created possessing a soul capable of spiritual formation and communion with the Spirit of God. This would open a path for the Divine to work upon the hearts of humanity, which otherwise appear dark, empty, and confused.
From the beginning, the Creator purposed to refine the souls of his creation. Our Holy God is not content to leave humankind in its natural state. Through spiritual communion, God’s grace works on the unformed soul, making way for light, clarity, and order to enter. The work of grace in the soul forms a new creation and this work is an ever-present gift of renewal, pouring out revelatory light from the divine source into the souls of its created beings.
Through cooperation with the Creator’s good work, the human soul discovers its meaning and purpose in life. Has God brought order into your soul by rightly forming and organizing your mind, heart, and will? Take a moment now to thank him for this special gift of grace bestowed upon your soul. As for that that confused person I asked you to think about, send up a heartfelt prayer to request God’s intervention in their life.
Becoming Biblical 