Swaddling the earth

Or who enclosed the sea with doors when, bursting forth, it went out from the womb, when I made a cloud its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band. Job 38: 8-9

We think of the creation as God taking the void blob of earth and all that water covering it...darkness over the face of the deep...but it all had to be created, too. Can you even imagine the Creator God pouring from His infinite mind the waters onto the earth? What a rush (literally). He birthed it onto the earth like birthing a baby...all there inside, and then out it comes. He covered the water-born earth with a thick cloud cover and darkness...no sun could have shown through

knees wrapped it up tightly like a newborn being swaddled. The baby is used to tight quarters, being squeezed from all sides. And they calm much easier when they are wrapped tightly, held snuggly, and rocked gently back and forth.

(Hint to the clueless...if you want to get a baby to stop crying, hold it tighter, don't lay it down sprawling. People say I can put babies to sleep or calm them, and that is all I do...hold them firmly and securely in a way most people are afraid to for some reason).

So God gave birth and securely wrapped His new baby in clouds and darkness. There He was, admiring this new thing He had brought forth, and lovingly cuddled with it for a while! How powerful He is, and yet tender and calming.

And He set limits...the following verses say that He set up boundaries and doors with bolts for those seas He had made. He rebuked them and set limits because He knew they were powerful and mighty and would tend toward pride, showing off and causing damage in the world. We see how powerful the seas can be, with hurricanes and floods, and had not God limited their boundaries, we would not feel the least safe on the earth.

This is us as parents, knowing our children are created with great potential for good, and also great potential for evil and harm. Out of love for them, for knowledge of their nature to rise in pride and harm, we set limits, we shut doors, we draw boundaries of space and behavior just as God did. We wrapped them in garments to keep them safe and secure, and took on the very characteristics of God in caring for them. We try to keep them in the dark about evil, though they don't understand why sometimes, and they see more in life than we would like them to...just like God.

Wrapped tightly by a loving Father, we are secure, safe, and loved. Though we don't stay newborn forever, we can still experience His care with each baby we hold, wrapping them tight in our loving arms, wrapping them in blankets of warmth and softness.

Project Linus and other ministries understand the power of a warm hug of swaddling cloth in the life of a child. Think of how you can provide that security for a child and wrap your arms around a needy one somehow today.