The dictionary says the word chaos means "completely confused or disordered." Not partially confused; completely. If my child's room is messy, it isn't total chaos. There's still some order to the room with its floors, walls, and placement of furniture. But to anyone who likes things done neatly, it appears to be chaos. Myself, I can live with some disorder. My wife loves order. We are a good pair!
Chaos is a scientific term. It is used to describe random situations or uncertain outcomes. When an event can't be predicted, or behavior obeys no laws or patterns, it is said to be chaotic. Chaos is a term used in the Bible, in Genesis. Before the earth could be inhabited, chaos reigned. God's method of setting things right was to speak into the situation. That is still God's method of making whatever is wrong become right.
Chaos is unsettling. What if you were driving on a highway and came to an intersection that had no red lights or stop signs? Who goes first? Is it safe to cross? What if you lived in a society where there was no civility, no mutual respect, no known boundaries or right behavior? It would be like living in a war zone. After a while, people would begin to live in constant fear, afraid to express their minds, not sure what caused rewards or what brought punishment.
Getting out of chaos into peace, whether you're an individual, a family, a church, or a nation, requires hearing God's voice and agreeing with his word. This pattern was first seen in creation.
At creation, God spoke order into a chaotic universe. This occurred in the beginning, when things were initially without shape or materiality. God spoke by his word and the Holy Spirit hovered (or brooded) over creation, bringing about the beauty and order of this amazing human-friendly world in which we live. Everything from the elements of the periodic table, to molecular bonds in chemistry, to DNA in biology, to astronomy - the orbits of planets and stars - are now predictable. We live in a well-ordered universe.
I recently re-watched a wonderful movie, Apollo 13, starring Tom Hanks. When the astronauts wanted to align their trajectory so as to circle the moon and return to earth, they used orbits, speed, mass, acceleration to calculate these things because the universe is predictable, not chaotic. Physics and mathematics depend on predictability. Another similar terrific movie is Hidden Figures, which tells about the talented black women who helped NASA launch John Glenn into orbit. This would not have happened without smart mathematics and without the universe being predictable.
Chaos can exist in certain realms that resist the Word of God or the Holy Spirit. Resistance to God (divine order) requires a rebellious human being. Only people can create pockets of resistance. Everything else submits to God's natural order, like gravity.
Gravity is in all of the universe, yet scientists still don't know what it is. They can describe how it affects things, but don't know how it works. They know the force of gravity is associated with an object's mass and the distance from it. Gravity is a good illustration of God's authority over creation. Can you escape gravity? Yes, if you get far enough away from its source. You lose its sense of attraction. In the same way, the scriptures teach that godless people are "wandering stars," out of orbit, unpredictable, a law unto themselves, not subject to the ordering authority that created them.
-- Ron Wood is a writer and minister. Email him at [email protected] or visit www.touchedbygrace.org. The opinions expressed are those of the author.
Editorial on 02/27/2019