Before God ever said a word, before light cracked the silence, Scripture paints a surprising picture of the earth’s earliest condition:
“Without form and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep.” (Genesis 1:2)

It was disorder.
It was turbulence.
A world without structure, without peace, without a home.
A kind of cosmic restlessness.

And yet—right there, in the middle of all that chaos—the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters (Genesis 1:2).

That word מְרַחֶפֶת hovering—rachaph in Hebrew—describes a mother bird brooding over her eggs: warming, guarding, envisioning life before it appears. It’s the image of love waiting patiently for a miracle to take shape.

We experience our own versions of this moment.
Seasons when life feels disordered, when darkness sits heavy, when everything seems “out of sync” with the peace God placed in our hearts.

But chaos is never the whole story.
Because the Spirit hovers there too.

The miracle began not when God spoke, but when the Spirit brooded.

And that brooding has a parallel for us:
To see God’s promises come alive, we are invited to do the same—
to sit with His Word,
to meditate,
to let the promises warm our hearts until vision forms.

Promises like:
“They shall still bear fruit in old age; they shall be fresh and flourishing.” (Psalm 92:14)
You brood over that.
You let it shape how you see yourself, even before you see the evidence.

Only after the hovering came the declaration:
“Let there be light.” (Genesis 1:3)
The Spirit prepared the atmosphere for the miracle.

It’s the same pattern seen in Mary, when the angel declared that the Holy Spirit would “overshadow” her before she conceived (Luke 1:35).

The Spirit broods… then the miracle manifests.

So when life looks chaotic, dark, or unformed, this is not the sign of God’s absence—it’s often the sign of His nearness.
The Spirit is already there: warming, guarding, preparing, bringing order out of chaos and light out of darkness.

The beginning may be turbulent.
But the Spirit is hovering—and light is only a word away.