Weekly Devotion
September 14, 2025

 Creating Beauty From Chaos

In the Common English Bible (CEB), Genesis 1:1-3 reads: “When God began to create the heavens and the earth— 2 the earth was without shape or form, it was dark over the deep sea, and God’s wind swept over the waters—3 God said, “Let there be light.” And so light appeared.

The Hebrew text definitely does not say, as I learned from the King James Version in my childhood: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” There is no period. It shouldn’t be a complete sentence. The CEB comes close to how the Hebrew feels. It’s virtually impossible to translate that feeling. You’ll notice there’s no period after “waters” either – just a dash where the CEB signals a kind of run-on sentence in Hebrew going into verse 3.

The Hebrew feeling is that God was in motion bringing things into existence without distinguishing where or when, precisely, the idea for creation ended and the actualizing began.

I think it’s like an artist who is inspired to paint or sculpt. There’s an idea but it takes actually putting brush to canvas or clay to the wheel to make that idea real. A potter, for example, will adjust her idea to fit what the clay will give her. When the potter began to create her vase, it was a lump of clay without shape or form…she put it on the wheel to mould it and shape it and when she was done, it was good! It was beautiful!

I heard a message recently where the preacher emphasized something new for me. I typically think of Genesis 1 telling how God created Order out of the chaos. This preacher caught some of the intentions of the Hebrew language and suggested we should consider that God created Beauty out of the chaos. After all, every day, God stood back and said “Good”!

I think “Good” implies more than just “order.” Order, at least in today’s contexts, implies utility. A well ordered program has structure, organization, leadership and fulfillment of goals. All these are good, of course. So I’m not saying “Good” should not imply “order.”

But the Hebrew text goes beyond utility. There is miracle. Wonder. Immensity.

I went out onto my street recently at 5 AM. The streetlights were off for some reason, so the stars were especially clear. An amazing sight was looking down Browning Blvd to the east and seeing Venus and Jupiter larger and brighter than I’ve ever seen them. The artistry of Creator tugged at my heart. My senses were alive to the beauty of these celestial bodies. On a clear night, the stars and planets, and the Northern Lights fill us with wonder and we see beauty.

So to sum up, God created beauty out of chaos – not just order.

We experience all kinds of chaos – in our personal lives, in our homes, in work, at school – yes even in church. Chaos typically make us stressed, tense, worried, fearful. Genesis 1 reassures us God is in the middle of all the chaos, aiming to create something beautiful, not just regain order!

Do you believe it? Do you trust it? If we believe in Creator, we believe God can create beauty out of our messes too! 


Written by Dave Wiebe