Baroni Bloggin’

…and darkness was upon the face of the deep and the Spirit of God brooded over the darkness… (paraphrase Gen.1:2)

In the beginning of creation God started with Himself and… nothing.

Some translations say darkness was upon the face of the deep. Some say that the earth was without form and void, barren, chaos.
…and the Spirit of God hovered, moved, brooded over the barrenness,

nothingness,

chaos,

emptiness.

Then God said: “Let there be light- and there was light.”

In the story of creation in the book of Genesis (beginnings), there is a wonderful picture of God Who is a community in Himself. The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit have always existed in a perfect relationship of love, intimacy, harmony and humility.

See the wondrous cooperation of the Trinity in the first 3 verses of Genesis:

The Spirit of God was brooding over the darkness, waiting…
Waiting for The Father to speak. To send His Word, The Son.

So the Father sends the Son to the Spirit Who applies the Word to the darkness and the darkness gives way to the Light.
Chaos gives way to Divine Order.
Barrenness gives way to the fruitfulness of the Creator.

Isaiah 54 says “Rejoice O barren, you who have not had children. Sing for joy, for more shall be the children of the barren than those of the married wife.” This speaks to our refusal to trust in our own sufficiency and our dependence on God who creates out of nothing.

He gives beauty for ashes, gets glory from dust
Makes a garment of praise from the armor of rust
Turns bondage to dancing, through weakness makes strong
Turns the wail of the mourner to the victory song *

I have good news for you. If there are barren places in your life, if you feel afraid or maybe you feel numb, or there are situations filled with chaos or darkness, The Spirit of God is brooding (like a mother hen over her eggs) over that darkness. God has sent His Word to you and will even give you the grace of faith to respond like Mary did “Lord, Let it be done to me according to Your Word.”

Light arises in the darkness and the desert will blossom as a rose, for Your Maker is your husband.

Do you feel The Brooding?

Godrest and Godspeed,
David Baroni

*(”Glorify the Lord” written by David Baroni, from the CD “In This Holy Place”)

A wise person accepts the discipline of the Lord. In fact, to be corrected by our Heavenly Father is a sure sign that we are His sons and daughters. Holy Spirit-inspired conviction is a gift from God to help us to continue to be conformed to the image of Christ.

When a word from the Lord exposes the wrong motives, disobedience, pride and self-sufficiency in my heart, the proper, healthy response from me is to humbly ask for forgiveness and cleansing. Then, with an attitude of thankfulness for the Love of God that refuses to let me live for very long in violation of Kingdom principles, I arise, “wash my face”, and continue walking in the Life of Jesus.

What if my child did something wrong, say purposefully poured her milk on the floor after I had instructed her not to? (This is assuming one of my daughters was about 6 years old- that was a while ago .

When I pointed out that her behavior was unacceptable, she may respond to correction by crying profusely and saying honestly, “I’m sorry Daddy.”

Of course, being a loving (though imperfect) father, I would accept her apology and that would be the end of the matter, unless…

She refused to let it end. What if she kept crying over and over again: “I’m sorry Daddy, oh I am so sorry, please forgive me Daddy, I’m sorry…?” What must my child think of me, to not accept my forgiveness?

To me, the above scenario illustrates the difference between conviction and repentance, and condemnation and a religious reaction to correction.

Tim Hughes wrote a wonderful song “Here I Am To Worship”.
In the middle of the song are the lines: “I’ll never know how much it cost to see my sin upon that cross…”

I was in a worship conference several years ago when the worship leader was leading that song. He led us to repeat the above lines, I’m sure he was wanting the realization of God’s great love to sink in.
So we sang it. And sang it again… and again… and again…

After staying on that part of the song for a very long time, I went from being grateful to being alarmed. It seemed like conviction and thankfulness began to change into condemnation and a kind of religious flagellation. I could almost see us with the whips, beating ourselves on our backs in a vain display of false piety.

I was in the congregation so I began to walk around the back of the auditorium singing a different line. To the same tune of “I’ll never know how much it cost” I was singing:

“And now I am complete in You to walk in all You’ve called me to… So here I am to worship”.

True humility is having an accurate perception of Who God is (and of course, that is an ever- increasing revelation), and an accurate perception of who I am. It’s not about false piety or condemnation, but receiving grace to respond to God’s conviction and to walk as a son or daughter of the Most High God.

Godrest and Godspeed,
David Baroni