The Chaos Slayer
Chaos is constantly working to enter your world. The chaos could be external, but most times the chaos is internal…within ourselves. But order is available to you.
One of the common complaints I hear from people who are trying to read and understand the Bible is the sense of randomness to it. How does one story connect to another? Can I relate it all from the beginning to the end?
Pattern Recognition is a vital way we learn to efficiently go through a day. A basic example is recognizing that large, vertical, rectangular pieces of wood on hinges are doors. Recognizing this pattern allows us to determine where to enter or exit a building quickly.
I’ve recently been introduced to a few new patterns to help me better understand both the Bible and God. This led me to consider the idea of pattern recognition, so I did a bit of reading on it.
One article showed how pattern recognition helps us differentiate one day from the next. The article used the example of the classic 80s movie starring Bill Murray — Groundhog Day. Pattern recognition keeps us from living each day as if everything were brand new, though it’s a repeat of the same thing over and over.
This same article made a great statement to show how important recognizing patterns in Scripture is.
“…Being able to spot patterns…helps us make sense of a world that can too often feel confusing and random.”
Again, for many of us, three random passages from Genesis, 1 Samuel, and Revelation (the beginning, middle, and end of the Bible) can feel confusing and random. Unless you recognize the patterns of the Biblical writers.
A couple of months ago, I introduced you to the pattern of trees in Scripture. Throughout the Bible, the writers tied trees to humanity. When we read about trees, our spiritual ears should perk up…the writer may be talking about you and me. This pattern begins in Genesis (at the beginning of the time) and continues through the end of the Bible in Revelation.
Let me introduce you to another pattern that also begins in Genesis.
Chaos and Order
Read the opening lines of Genesis, and see if you can find both chaos and order:
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.
Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.” -Genesis 1:1-3
Did you see it? If not let me help you.
Chaos
The earth was formless, void, and covered in darkness…especially over the deep waters. The author is painting a picture of chaos or disorder. It’s the same picture modern-day science draws in its interpretation of the pre-creation world — a cosmic soup of atoms.
The most important part of this description, in terms of how chaos is described poetically in Scripture, is the term ‘deep waters’. This is especially helpful when you read the prophetic and poetic books of the Bible (books like Psalms, Job, Isaiah or Jeremiah).
Order
In the Biblical account of creation, God speaks into the chaos. With one brief sentence, God begins creating order out of the chaos.
“Let there be light.”
Where there was once darkness, there is now light.
The Flip Side
Order from chaos is one of the patterns found in the early account of the world. But this pattern has another side to it — order dissolving back into chaos. Chaos re-enters the world in Genesis chapter three. The serpent enters the Garden of Eden and deceives Adam and Eve into disobeying God’s command (don’t eat from the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil).
Into the perfect order God had created, re-entered disorder through humanity’s sin.
David: Chaos Slayer
Knowing these two patterns, you can begin to see how Scripture is a series of stories describing God ordering chaos or humanity throwing an ordered world into chaos. Let me show you an example of what this looks like in the stories of Saul and David.
Order to Chaos…
1 Samuel 15 begins the transition of power from King Saul to the shepherd boy David. In that chapter, Saul disobeyed God’s command to destroy all of the Amalekites. The prophet Samuel confronts Saul with his sin and the consequences:
But Samuel replied, “I will not go back with you! Since you have rejected the Lord’s command, he has rejected you as king of Israel.” -1 Samuel 15:26
God rejecting Saul as king was more than just a political decision, it meant the Spirit of God leaving Saul. Years earlier Samuel anointed Saul with oil as a sign that the Spirit of God filled Saul specially and uniquely for him to lead the people of God. Now this Spirit had left him.
Saul’s sin had allowed chaos to replace the order of God in his life, and subsequently the order of God in the nation of Israel.
…and Back to Order
But the very next chapter sees God begin to restore order where chaos rules. Samuel visits the home of Jesse in Bethlehem where he is introduced to David. By God’s command, Samuel anointed David as the new king of Israel. When David was anointed as king, the Spirit of God rested on him.
God begins to mold David into a chaos slayer.
Yet while God rested on David, He left Saul, and chaos began to take over the life of Saul:
Now the Spirit of the Lord had left Saul, and the Lord sent a tormenting spirit that filled him with depression and fear. -1 Samuel 16:14
Saul’s advisors searched the nation for a musician who could calm Saul through their music, and the search led them to David. Being anointed by God, The Chaos Slayer would play for Saul, and order would be restored:
And whenever the tormenting spirit from God troubled Saul, David would play the harp. Then Saul would feel better, and the tormenting spirit would go away.
-1 Samuel 16:23
As you continue to read the story of Saul and David, you will see the push and pull of chaos and order. It’s just the very next chapter when David becomes the ultimate Chaos Slayer. Using a sling and stone, David killed Goliath, who was a form of chaos attacking the nation of Israel.
Become a Chaos Slayer
This pattern in Genesis, 1 Samuel, and other parts of Scripture (Jesus calming the storm and raising Lazarus from the dead), isn’t just a way of reading scripture. It’s a vital way we are to live our lives.
Earlier this year, I attended a photography conference with my wife. At the conference, a mother received word her thirteen-year-old son took his own life. I knew the director of the conference, and I asked him if I could help in any way — specifically pastorally. He asked if I would go to her room to pray with her.
To be honest, I didn’t want to go. I knew the pain…chaos…I would be walking into. But I did go, and I was right. It was within less than an hour of her hearing the news, and the grief and pain was thick. Chaos ruled the room.
I was with her for less than 30 minutes before she left for the airport. I didn’t do anything special. I hugged her. I sat with her. I read Scripture to her. I prayed with her. For a few moments, as I walked with the Spirit, I introduced order into chaos. One of her friends who was in the room later told me, “It was like Jesus walked into the room.”
I became a Chaos Slayer.
You can be a Chaos Slayer.
Chaos is constantly working to enter your world — both through your sin and the sin of others. The chaos could be external, but most times the chaos is internal…within ourselves (again because of what we have done ourselves or what others have done to us or around us).
But order is available to you. Just like the Spirit of God resting on David, the Holy Spirit would love to fill you today. We all are special, and when you are filled with the Spirit of God, order is restored.
Order is available to you, but it isn’t just for you. God wants to kill the chaos in your life, so he can carry order into all the places you go. You can bring order to areas of chaos you enter.
Writing Playlist
I don’t know if we have the same taste in music, but here are some songs to explore. All the links go to Spotify. While writing this post, this is some of what I was listening to:
Dreams - Stevie Nicks + Deep Dish
Now and Then - The Beatles
This is How I Thank the Lord - Mosaic MSC