Brooding

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, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. (Genesis 1:1-2)

He was there in the beginning. The very start. The place where all was darkness, formless, empty—nothingness. He was there...the Holy Spirit. The "Spirit of God." God the Father, God the Son (see John 1:1-3), God the Holy Spirit.

The NIV says he was "hovering" over the waters. That's probably the most common translation, and the second most common translation is "moving over" the waters. But, for some reason, the word that always sticks in my mind when I read this verse is one that isn't found in very many translations: brooding. The Spirit of God brooded over the face of the waters. Eugene Peterson's The Message describes it this way: "God’s Spirit brooded like a bird above the watery abyss."

That word, "brooded," seems more active to me than "hovered" or "moved." Brooded implies not just some sort of physical attention to what is happening, but emotional and spiritual consideration. The Spirit of God broods, considers, contemplates. What was it that the Spirit brooded about there over the primordial waters of Earth?

I don't know, and the writer of Genesis doesn't see fit to tell us, but if I had to guess (and it's my blog so I can), I wonder if the Spirit wasn't considering what might happen to this creation God was about to produce. Was the Spirit brooding over all the possibilities, much like you or I might think about several possible ways a conversation we're dreading might go? The Spirit broods, considers, ponders—and even in spite of that, even with knowing the possibility (probability) that the creation would go astray, would wander off...the Spirit still chose to create. Life, hope, freedom—all of that possibility that was considered in a moment over the very deep darkness that preceded creation. And the Spirit still chose to create.

One of the works of the Spirit is to help us brood, to ponder, to consider whether what we are doing will honor and glorify Jesus or not. And the Holy Spirit was doing that in the very act of creation. We often don't take time to cooperate with the Spirit in this brooding act. We want action and we want it now. We want to do something. We want to blame someone. We want to honor someone. We want to see if we can't move forward or backward or any direction. And yet, in the psalms, we are told to be still (Psalm 46:10). Rest. Brood. Consider whether this next step will honor Jesus or not. Don't give into the tyranny of the urgent. Allow the Spirit to brood in you and over your situation. Allow the Spirit to direct your next step.