In the Book of Genesis, God is pictured creating the world by
wrestling with nature. The world is not
created out of nothing. There is water
and God separates the waters from the waters to create order. Nature in the
Bible is chaotic until God shows up and creates order. Such is the nature of nature and the nature
of human nature. It can be inconsistent and
unreliable. Throughout the Biblical
stories, God wrestles with nature. Sometimes
God wins. And sometimes God does not.
After all, nature is wild and has no conscience.
Order and chaos in the Bible are mingled. If chaos is the sense that things are out of
control, Biblical characters are aware of the looming possibility and ambiguity
of order and chaos.
And it’s certainly true in our own lives. We crave order, love to see or create
patterns, but are aware that chaos is always possible. We are feeling well but we wonder how long
will that last. We drive our cars but we
know accidents can happen. We make sure
to lock our doors at night and our cars when we park because we know about human
nature. We see dentists and doctors for
all sorts of ailments hoping to avoid or fix the chaos. Life is orderly alongside the constant
awareness of looming chaos.
Living in the tension between order and chaos requires
courage, the ability to act despite fear.
It requires us to get up each day, take a deep breath and go and meet
the day as it meets us. I wish you well
in your contest with order and chaos. I
hope there is a God fighting alongside us, but the Biblical warning is this: If God had to wrestle with nature and human
nature, you and I will not escape it. But,
and here is something to think about: we have been created and are structured with
the ability to live in the tension between order and chaos, or at least to help
each other do so. And that makes all the difference!
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