Not Created for Chaos

Yesterday, I came across this verse from Isaiah in my prayer book: "Thus says Yahweh, the Creator of the heavens--he is God, who shaped the earth and made it, who set it firm, he did not create it to be chaos, he formed it to be lived in" (Isaiah 45:18).

I love this vision of God committing to a vision of home. This verse is one of those that suggests to me that even though this world may seem committed to chaos, God isn't. God created this world for habitation, not chaos.

I liked the verse so much that I wrote a briefer version of it, along with the book chapter and verse, on a sticky note. As I walked to my car, the sticky note kept wanting to blow away. I picked it up twice, but by the time I got to the car, it had flown away.

If I had kept the sticky note, it would have gotten lost in my pile of sticky notes, and I might have never thought of it again. But since it flew away several times and was ultimately lost, I spent the evening determined to remember to look it up again. And I decided to write about it, because I was feeling a Holy Spirit nudge.

I love that idea of someone in the parking garage finding the sticky note and thinking about it. It's a different kind of evangelism. I think of that line from one of the Gospels about the wind blowing where it will, and we can't control it.

What does any of it mean? I'm not sure yet. But I find it comforting that God created the cosmos for habitation, not chaos, so I thought I'd write it down.