Speaking to someone at nighttime is so different than in the brash light of day. It was at night that Nicodemus went to visit Jesus. Quiet. Candlelit. He went seeking concrete answers to the undeniable miracles he had seen. But Jesus' response was pure poetry:
"You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again' The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit." John 3:7-8 NIV
John, who wrote in Greek, recorded "Spirit" as the delightful word pneuma – which means both "Spirit" and "wind". Jesus' perfect choice of words sends my imagination to the movement of wind through fields of wheat. There is an unseen force at play in the field, just as there is an unseen force moving within our individual lives, and in the story of the Church through time. It is invisible, but the impact of its presence is undeniable.
It calls to mind the Hebrew word with similar meaning — ruach, "spirit", "wind", "breath"….
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 1:2 NIV
"Spirit of God" was ruach Elohim – and my mind goes to images of a vast ocean, and the waves that arise from the breath of God. The word "hovering" reminds me of a great bird over a nest of eggs. Pure possibility.
This is the force which animates creation. This is the breath blown into the nostrils of Adam that transforms him from dust into a living human being. This is the force that renews, that brings life, that breathes resurrection – Sovereign.
Then he said to me, "Prophesy to these bones and say to them, 'Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! This is what the LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.'" Ezekiel 37: 4-6 NIV
This is the ruach that animates bones, that breathes life into our brokenness, and propels our Church into the future He has planned for us. This is God's active presence: the ongoing process of bringing life and hope out of sin and death.
by Carie Grant
