God began His world with a parting of the waters above and the waters below. Let there be light, He said, separating the light from the dark. Holding back the elements of turbulent chaos, with His great hands. Pulling forth life from dust. Bracing in place the puzzle of existence, piece by piece, with His omnipotent grasp.

This was His creation. Pressing out, teasing back, placing here, putting there. Actively pulling order into the natural strive of chaos and disorder. Into everything. Everything that exists, everything that His fingers touch.

And there is nothing, or no one, too far. To hide from the pressure of his ordered palm. So much, that His law is even inscribed into our hearts. Fitting each action thought and deed into a beautiful tapestry of right and wrong, separating and weaving the boundaries of His decrees and the chaotic desires that swell inside. He holds them back, discerning.

But sometimes if the greater Maker is questioned, unbalanced, unheeded, unwanted, God may let His hand ungrip. Allowing the waters to crash back into themselves. Drowning the life blood of those who are already spinning in the orderless. He may let the trickle of unnamed and unbounded break the floodgates, mixing back into each other.

In a bite of forbidden fruit the Creator knew that self-knowledge flooded the reality of existence. Good and evil, angst with God, hiding and terror, sin and separation. At the disobedience to His word, the boundaries were loosed. Creatures now thought of themselves as gods, good gifts blended into evils, clean rigid lines became blurry and grey.

Now wondering if the restraint of God’s hand was a burden. Slowly, unannounced, just soothing enough to believe that their infantile wisdom knew better. Or that their freedom in disorder is the way to life. But little did they know, when God removes His hand, the chaos ensues. The disarray is not life. When God lets go, it is certain death.

Sodom and Gomorrah, releasing His diving protection, letting the stars fall and fire burn. Unholy riders through the Red Sea, undoing the walls of oceans He built in honor of salvation. Generations of a sinful earth, disappointed, grieving, destroyed. He let go of the waters, He let go of the heavens, He let go of the order that was held in His hands. And it flooded and smoldered the groaning creation. They die, and they were free. He released them, from Himself.

And this is His judgment. Letting go. Releasing His pressure. Moving His fingertips, so the self-made gods can do what they want. Unrestraining the boundaries, so that they no longer are gathered, according to His truth. Ironically to their disillusioned liberation, they have no choice than to blend into their own disarray. When He hides His hand.

God judged, by opening His hand. God judged, by giving them up to the desires of their heart.

And God judged His only Son. Releasing the evils of mockery, corruption, and shame. Unbinding the innate code of human decency. Allowing the flood of sickening freedoms to unjustly drown. God removed His hand of defense, silenced His voice of order, and left Jesus all alone to die on a cross.

That was the final wash into chaos. The everlasting Son, God of God, light of light, unleashed the triumph of Death. True freedom. Removed from the touch of God’s righteous hand. Severed. Life taken away from Life itself. True nonsense. Real chaos. Punishment and judgement for the Son of God, a release that he never imagined, and not in the least deserved.

Yet it restored order. From the disarray. God was caught in faithfulness to His own Word, by His own hand. Releasing the sinner into oblivion, holding fast to the righteous. God let go, only to pull Jesus back to life. Pressing reality into the faithfulness of His Son. Ordering creation now by the mighty hand of a raised from the dead Savior, for the rest of time, unto eternity.

And now, it is done. There is nothing more that can be questioned, unbalanced, unheeded unwanted. There is no more chaos to be vanquished. Not in reality. Not in Christ. Not for you. It is ordered, as His hand holds you eternally in place.