The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. (Genesis 1:2)
God Sent His Spirit.
The hovering presence of the Spirit never fails to intrigue me.
There He was, hovering over the chaos that was the world before God intervened with His creation order. His presence was there. Waiting. Poised. Something is about to happen, and He’s right there, ready to act.
There He is again as Jesus emerges from the river. There He is, hovering like a dove. His presence is right there. Waiting. Poised. Something is about to happen, and He’s right there, ready to act.
There is a lot to be excited about what it is to be filled with the Spirit and feel enabled and equipped to do great and mighty exploits for God. That’s brilliant. There is much to appreciate about the Spirit, particularly in how often the Spirit’s work and movement are preparatory. It’s about establishing the presence before the power.
So God sends us the Spirit.
Often, before taking any action to address a matter, it’s good to survey the scene. It’s good to take in all that’s going on without intervening. Jesus surveyed the scene of the crowds, who looked helpless and harassed. His response to what He observed was a call to targeted prayer. Prayer that those who heard Him would discover was meant for them to carry out the intervention.
We may not hover in the same way that the Spirit did at the beginning, but we have a presence in our workplace, in our communities, in the town spaces, even online. We observe what’s going on without intervening. And as we observe, the Spirit of God gives us senses to detect things that are on the surface and often go deeper. We can sense the void, the chaos, the mess, and we can pick up on the unrest and the unsettled.
Whatever stage of the mission we are in, it’s still worth taking the time to sense by the Spirit where we are. What’s going on in the environment? Why is there disquiet? Why is there dysfunction? Sense it, gain an understanding of it and then ask the follow-up question …
God, what are you about to say in this situation?
For His Name’s Sake
C. L. J. Dryden
Shalom
Life With CD 
I’m glad you laid this one out so clearly, CD. What an encouragement, to know that I can hover and consider any situation before I act. This is something I sometimes fail to do. But acting in haste is never wise and often creates difficulties. Although we talk about being like the Father or being like Jesus, for some reason we rarely think about being like the Spirit. But we should, we really should. Thanks you so much!