Daily Devotional: 7/11/2018 - THE (CHAOTIC) WATERS PT. 1

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters." Genesis 1:1-2

One thing about the Bible is that there is so much imagery, symbolism, metaphors, and other literary elements throughout the many chapters and books. The Bible is a poetic love letter written to us from God. If what I am going to write for this two parter works out this is going to be really cool. I am going to attempt to blow some minds, convict some hearts, and just have some fun with it. This was inspired and completed with the help of The Bible Project, they released a podcast that talked about metaphors and the chaotic waters (https://thebibleproject.com/podcast/series-h2r-p21-metaphor-e3-chaotic-waters/). A metaphor is a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable. Metaphors are used all the time in stories, every day life and in poetry. So it is not shyly used in the Bible which is the greatest poem every written. Tim (from the Bible Project, absolute genius) quoted TS Eliot and said that poetry is a "raid on the inarticulate", which in my language means "things are difficult to explain/understand"; and if you have read the Bible you can easily second this (just try reading and understanding some of Jesus's parables on the first try). Water is an every day essential, and it was no different for the people of the Bible. In the beginning and the most popular way that water was used with was to describe danger and death through the metaphor of chaotic waters. It only makes sense, we as humans live on land where it is "safe" and where we can see for miles all around; and then you have the sea which is full of animals and monsters that we cannot see and is deeper than the mind can imagine and the body can handle. This is why in the writings the chaotic waters would go on to describe humans, in the eyes of the early people the sea was dangerous and we were cool and safe, but we (humans) turned out to be one of the most dangerous things to ever live and walk on this earth. Before anything, after creating the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1-2), God was just chilling over the ball of water (deep) that we know call earth. Imagine how scary that would be, no light (sun or moon) and you just in the middle of the ocean with millions of feet below you not knowing what is going to come from any direction. So God decided to spice things up and create everything in the six days, here is an example of how he was able to tame the waters (this will be used later on, so do not just be like "ah okay, next"). Okay so lets turn real quick to Genesis 2 which is already paralleling the "wild and waste" of Genesis 1. Here there is no water, the land is drier than an old person's sense of humor, so in verse six God brought the streams up from the ground to water all the land (another example of God taming the waters, see where I am going with this?). The Hebrew word for spring and for Adam (man) are very similar, so in the Hebrew text this was a word play (obviously for us it is not much of one, but do not walk away yet). Go to next verse (seven), notice anything? Do not worry like usual I will wait… CORRECT, God formed man from the dust of the ground the same way that God brought water from the ground. Just a little connection between God being the ruler of everything, ground, water, and man; also connects the wordplay of the Hebrew text. In Genesis 2, God put in the middle of the earth the garden of Eden, and from the middle of the garden a river flowed from it, so the river was the center of the center of the earth. When the river leaves the garden it divides (into four different rivers). The word for divide in the Hebrew bible is only used a couple more times in the book of Genesis, and every time it is used it describes humans dividing. This is a symbol for division, as humans get further and further away from Eden the more and more they divide from each other. "Chaotic water is the first image given in the Bible, it is meant to convey a state of un-creation, a state that is uninhabitable and unwelcoming to life." Another example of how the waters are dangerous can be found in Genesis 7 (yes, this is the account of Noah and the flood). God flooded the entire earth because he wanted to start over, the people before the flood were constantly in sin and were doing extreme evil in his eyes (life did not really change since we still all sin and do evil in his eyes, but this is not a sense of failure, he succeeded in his plan. We are the ones who failed and fail). The waters were used to wipe out all of life, it did not discriminate (we should take notes). "The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than fifteen cubits. Every living thing that moved on land perished - birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind. Everything on dry land that had breath of life in its nostrils died. Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; people and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark," (Genesis 7:20-23). Now we turn to Exodus 15 (the victory song by Moses) which is a parallel to Psalm 18. God is not only fighting back the waters of the Red Sea but he is fighting back the Egyptian army. Both of these are "enemies" to the Israelites (mankind), they are both present dangers to them (at all times). They can be either be consumed by the waters or they can be destroyed by the army. Then we go to Psalm 18, here David is calling God his rock and his shield. He goes up the rock to be "saved from the enemies below". David is on a high rock (God) with his enemies (chaotic waters) below. Here we see how the chaotic waters represent danger and evil. Imagine you are in the middle of the ocean during a storm. The only way out is a climbing on to the rock that is poking out. The waves are crashing and clawing at you trying to drag you into the ocean, but the rock is keeping you safe. The same is for God, God is able to keep us safe from the crashing chaotic waters. Isaiah 17:12-14 says, "Woe to the many nations that rage- they rage like the raging sea! Woe to the peoples who roar- they roar like the roaring of great waters! Although the peoples roar like the roar of surging waters, when he rebukes them they flee far way, driven before the wind like chaff on the hills, like tumbleweed before a gale. In the evening, sudden terror! Before the morning, they are gone! This is the portion of those who loot us, the lot of those who plunder us." This passage further equates and expands the warring nations (people) with chaotic waters. I have said it before and I will continually say it, life is rough. Sometimes we are stuck in the middle of the sea during hurricane season. Sometimes we deal with people who lead to nothing but destruction and hurt. We deal with chaotic waters every day (people, evil, and temptations). There is one thing that is able to defeat all. There is only one that can calm the sea and tame the raging waters; he is God. He is the living water, the water we consume and will never go thirsty. He is the one that we should always lean on and he wants us to lean on him.

"In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. Many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.” The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore." (Isaiah 2:1-4)

Lord, thank you for being our rock and our shield. Thank you for being the one that tames the waters. Thank you for your everlasting love, peace, and grace. I pray that the chaotic waters do not consume us. If they do, I pray you are our rock, and you throw us a life vest and send a boat. I pray all this in your son's name amen.

#LetsBeAMovement