Order Out Of Chaos

The first time we meet God is in Genesis 1, where his Spirit hovered over the chaotic mess from which he brought forth the orderliness and beauty of creation. God is not intimidated by chaos. In fact, confusion, bedlam, anarchy and pandemonium—including yours—are the raw materials from which God fashions his best work.

The Journey // Focus: Numbers 2:1-4

Then the Lord gave these instructions to Moses and Aaron: “When the Israelites set up camp, each tribe will be assigned its own area. The tribal divisions will camp beneath their family banners on all four sides of the Tabernacle, but at some distance from it.”

Is your life out of control? Is you world falling apart? Are you sinking in a sea of chaos—emotionally, relationally, financially or spiritually? Feel like you can’t hold it together any longer? No problem! God specializes in bringing order out of chaos. Colossians 1:15-17 tells us,

Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see—such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together.

Did you catch that? He holds all creation together. “All” includes you—your emotions, your relationships, your finances, your spiritual concerns, whatever… You don’t have to hold it all together; God is doing that for you.

The fact is, the first time we meet God is in Genesis 1, and his Spirit is hovering over the chaotic mess out of which he brought forth the orderliness and beauty of creation. God is not intimidated by chaos. In fact, confusion, bedlam, anarchy and pandemonium are the raw materials from which God fashions his best work.

When you read Numbers 2 as God lays out the “seating plan” for the brand new nation called Israel, you might wonder what, if any, devotional value is present in this chapter. And I would agree, since my task today is to write an inspirational lesson from theses verses, that this is a bit of a stretch. But one of the truths that we do find here is that God loves order. And while he isn’t intimidated by chaos, he is not content to leave it there. He brings process, intentionality, production and even beauty out of it. As the twelve tribes of Israel are specifically assigned where to set up camp, you see a pretty impressive and purposeful design in God’s plan. Actually, given the size of the nation, and thus the size and complexity of the organizational task, God is a pretty impressive event organizer.

God wants to organize your life, too. He is not afraid of your chaos. The fact that you don’t know what to do doesn’t mean that God doesn’t have a plan. He does. And as you submit your chaos to him in utter dependence, as you surrender your fears and frustrations to him in trust, he will bring his creative powers to bear to bring purpose into your situation while at the same time, out of it, bring glory unto himself.

Be encouraged! The Apostle Paul profoundly declared, “For you are God’s masterpiece. He has created you anew in Christ Jesus, so you can do the good things he planned long ago for you to do.” No matter what your situation looks like and not matter how your emotions are evaluating it, you are God’s work of art, his poem, and you are quite a piece of work. God started something incredible in you when he saved you, and even though your growth in salvation may not be along a straight and continuous line, he has guaranteed to “continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.”

So in review, here is the truth that we can squeeze out of Numbers 2: God brings order out of chaos. His order is purposeful. And his purpose is to use you to bring glory to himself. So don’t be overwhelmed by your chaotic world right now, the Master Builder is fixing to create quite a work of art!