SET THE FOUNDATION

Today’s Focus: You have God-given authority to set things in order, even if you’re starting from a place of confusion or disorganization.

When Genesis 1:2 says the earth was “without form,” it seems contradictory.

The word translated “without form,” tôhûw in Hebrew, means “desert” or “wasteland.”

It’s not exactly the Eden-like garden we often imagine in Genesis.

How could God make something that doesn’t have structure or purpose?

Why would He start with something that didn’t have His perfect order already in place?

After all, you’d assume that a perfect God always starts with perfection.

On the contrary, the writer of Genesis wants us to know that there was a void in the formation of the earth that only God could handle.

As creatives and artists, we’re familiar with things that are formless.

We take something that does not yet have any configuration or shape, and we exercise our will until that thing takes on the nature and structure we desire.

It’s important to note that God never said the Earth, in its formless state, was good (like he did when he made the light and subsequent parts of the universe).

Formless isn’t his style.

God’s ultimate goal is to transform chaos into order and function. We experience blessings when He takes the formless and turns it into something purposeful and beautiful.

But we’ll never experience that if we don’t trust Him when things look more chaotic than constructed.

Our dreams and aspirations may seem formless. Our future may seem formless. Our creative ideas may seem formless.

But that doesn’t mean God isn’t involved.

When your ideas, dreams, or goals feel unorganized or just a foggy representation, it gives you a chance to lean into God’s authority - the same authority He gave us in the garden to express and pursue our dreams and desires.

You have God-given authority to act as his agent and bring structure, balance, and purpose to any murky or unsure situation.

His Word is your sure foundation.

He will provide the raw materials and the right people to build what you’ve been called to build. But it all starts with trust.

Trust that what God has given you has a greater purpose than what you can see right now.

Today, speak His words over your situations, your dreams, and your creative projects in the same way He spoke to the void.

Be confident that He’s working with you and for you to bring something beautiful into being.

ACTION STEP

Think about the unfinished ideas, dreams, and goals you’re still praying about. Write them down and commit those formless ideas to God’s care.

Pray for the trust and wisdom to stay in the process, as God reveals the organization and structure that will make those visions a reality.