I came across this in my Bible reading today:
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. – Genesis 1:1-2
These are the first two verses of the entire Bible. There is much to be said about Genesis 1 and 2, and we will not get into much here. I recommend the PCA’s Study Report on Creation, it can be found at pcahistory.org. There are four views represented that have been held historically on the days of creation, biblically defensible views – so I recommend you give that a read if that is a concern of yours.
But here I just want to point out that chaos is introduced in the narrative. Moses writes this to tell us something particular – there was darkness over the face of the deep. It’s a strange way to put it, because what is the deep? What is darkness? But Moses is making the point – God created everything out of nothing, bringing order to something that would otherwise be chaotic. He is God of all, creator of all, and must be honored as such. I do believe Moses is less concerned in Genesis 1 about the scientific reporting of what’s happened in creation as he is with the spiritual implications of one creator God in the universe. John 1 picks up on that mode of operation as a reflection on Genesis 1, now introducing our creator and savior as Jesus Christ himself.
Here in this chaotic mess of a world, we see the Spirit of God hovering over the waters. God rules over this and will make beauty from ashes. He is always in control. It is delightful that we see the Trinity at work here, combining Genesis 1 and John 1, as all three persons of the Trinity are present in creation, eternally existing in relationship with one another. We, being made in God’s image, are also relational creatures, meant to be selflessly looking to the good of others first. We learned something in the creation story, though – that we could step into that god-like ourselves, self-existence and independent of what he’s given. It’s never worked for us, but we keep trying. Know that he made you, he made you in his image, he made you to bring glory to him.