Spirit in the Sky
Every once in a while, you read a scripture that you connect with on some supernatural level. Often for me, I can’t even tell you why. It’s almost as if the more I try to figure it out, the less mystery I feel. So, in cases like that, I tuck the scripture away and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the meaning to me when I’m ready.
One such mystery that has always intrigued me comes from the first two lines of my favorite book:
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep...
This week, I had the pleasure of reading about the mystery of “hovering” from Lisa Bevere’s new book, Adamant. The first chapter describes the quest for truth that man has always sought. In fact, the quest was often for a ‘rock,’ or a ‘mountain’ where pure, raw, unbreakable truth could be found. Lisa does a wonderful job showing how this adamant is found in Jesus.
Her topics then turn to the attributes of the ‘adamant.’ And in the second chapter, titled “Adamantly Intimate,” she writes: The Hebrew word for hovering, rachaf, evokes such a beautiful picture and is best translated as “to linger or to float in a manner that is at once gentle and cherishing.” The rabbinic notation that accompanies this word for hovering is “like a dove.”
She goes on: “Rachaf also means “to flutter over.” The word is seen again in this reference:
“He found him in a desert land, And in the howling waste of the wilderness; He encircled him, He cared for him, He kept him as the apple of His eye. Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, That hovers over its young, spreading out its wings and catching them, bearing them on its pinions.” (Deuteronomy 32: 10-11)
The picture of hovering is intimate. She goes on to talk of creation, but before God births the world, He is covering and protecting. What an intimate picture. We know God, largely, as our Heavenly Father – distant and well, yes, adamant. Adamant that He knows best, and He does, but sometimes “adamant” can sound forceful and unwavering. But not only is God and His truth fixed and firm, He is also caring and compassionate and that is what I want you to let sink deep in to your bones today.
God adamantly loves you. He adamantly sent His son to die so that you would be forgiven and set free. He adamantly lives – not only far off – but in each of us who believe. He is and has always been adamantly with you.
I know sometimes our waters feel deep, empty and void, but that is when WE must adamantly believe that He is hovering. Ever. So. Close.
Do you remember this gold record song from 1969 "Spirit in the Sky" ?