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One of the Great Hebrew words in scripture comes in the first two verses of the Bible and it is this “Tohu Va bohu”. It’s a little used word that is hard to explain so I’ll give a few examples to see if I can help you get a picture of it in your mind.
I went upstairs to look at my son’s bedroom this past weekend and when I opened the door it was complete Tohu Va bohu.
While moving my daughter into college the dormitory was Tohu Va bohu.
There was an accident on the highway the other day and the resulting traffic jam was Tohu Va bohu.
Genesis 1:1-2 tells us that “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and the earth was Tohu Va bohu.” Most of our English translations interpret this as “without form and void”. However, a translation of Tohu Va bohu that speaks to me even more clearly is this, “Chaos”. Now chaos is a word I can understand, because it’s a word I experience on a regular basis: my son’s room, a college dormitory on move-in day, my daily schedule, all the things that need to get done on a weekend, the situation at my house this summer with 4 kids who all drive and a car in the shop. This is just some of the chaos in my life. Maybe you can relate to the idea of chaos in your life: getting ready for school in the mornings; getting out of the house with kids who aren’t ready to go; keeping bills paid, getting to appointments on time, all while trying to be scintillating as a parent, employee, colleague and friend. At times our lives feel like Tohu Va bohu.
And yet what the story of creation tells us is that over the course of time God began to do something to that Chaos.
Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
And God said, ‘Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.’ And it was so. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.
And God said Let there be.. and it was so… and God saw that it was good and there was evening and there was morning the third day… the fourth day…the fifth day…
What this first chapter of Genesis tells us is that where once there was Tohu Va Bohu, God brings order. It’s a beautiful picture of how God takes the chaos of life and puts order and structure to it. As you begin a new day, you may have already begun to feel the chaos. If so, I invite you to turn to the one who offers to bring order to the craziness of our lives. I invite you to take a moment before the chaos begins each day. Start right here- right now- and say a prayer to start your day. In fact, I invite you to do that each and every morning before the chaos begins; before the waves begin to swirl and the winds begin to blow. I invite you to bring God into the chaos of life. God does not promise to eliminate it, rather he offers to bring a sense of order, peace and perspective to it. This week, may we experience God’s peace in the midst of the daily chaos of our lives.
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