The Primacy of Separation

6 Then God said, “Let there be a space between the waters, to separate the waters of the heavens from the waters of the earth.” 7 And that is what happened. God made this space to separate the waters of the earth from the waters of the heavens. 8 God called the space “sky.”...

9 Then God said, “Let the waters beneath the sky flow together into one place, so dry ground may appear.” And that is what happened. 10 God called the dry ground “land” and the waters “seas.” And God saw that it was good...

14 Then God said, “Let lights appear in the sky to separate the day from the night. Let them be signs to mark the seasons, days, and years. 15 Let these lights in the sky shine down on the earth.” And that is what happened.

(From Genesis 1, NLT)

One day contains 24 hours, 1,440 minutes, and 86,400 seconds. Each of us are guaranteed nothing, and those days, minutes, and seconds go by quickly. If we are honest, we confess that the next second is not known.

One day contains a lot. According to an article in cnbc.com, "Average in America is a prison--here's what it looks like and how you can break free," published February 7, 2018, the average American watches 33 hours of TV a week (closing on 283 minutes per day, or just under 20% of the day);  works 34.4 hours per week (not quite 5 hours a day over 7 days, or almost 295 minutes, just over 20% of one day); spends 116 minutes per day on social media (about 8% of the day); spends 5 hours per day on their cell phone (about 20%); and exercises 17 minutes per day (just over 1%).

This is the day of your typical, American, rat-race day. To put it in another way of the Rodentia order, it is the kind of day most of us jump on the hamster wheel for.

Does anyone else find this way dangerous and chaotic? I think it is due to its aimlessness. If we do not order our lives, we just fall into the hamster wheel of life and keep running until we are dead. The same article quoted above points out the habits that set successful people apart from the average: 

• They pursue their own dreams and goals, and not those of parents, family, or friends.
• They engage in deliberate practices.
• They don't rely on passion or motivation. They forge good daily habits that put them on autopilot for success.
• They don't stop trying, and because of this, they hit that "lucky spot."
• They are frugal.
• They do not gossip.
• They read to learn, spending 30 minutes or more each day to gain knowledge about their career, craft, or industry.
• They experiment.
• They seek feedback.
• They create a blueprint for the life they desire.

All of these acts separate them from the chaos of life and order them for success. This is not unlike what God did for us at creation, and what He did created such a blueprint for humanity's success.

Consider His actions from the verses above:

• God separated light (which reveals) from darkness (which obscures). 
• God separated the waters (a place of death and chaos) above from the waters below, creating sky (heavens, or atmosphere, the abode of God to the Hebrew).
• God separated sea (chaos and death) from land (order).
• God created the lights to govern (bring order to) humanity's days.

Consider the purpose and activities God gave to humanity in the creation story:

• "Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth, and govern it. Reign over..." (verse 28).
• God gave humanity a defined purpose, to work the ground from which the man was created in the Garden God created as his home (Genesis 2:7-8, 15).

God separated so we could live apart from chaos and death. He separated so we live in the open, without shame, and with order. He separated so that life could thrive as He intended it.

God separates so He can give us His kind of life! Even now, He can separate us from the chaos of the "hamster wheel" of life so we can live a life worth living! He can separate us (another word for making separate is to make "holy," actually) to being citizens of His Kingdom, even as we live in this world, and I dare say most people need to see how awesome that is before they will be part of His Kingdom.

What has God separated you to? Is it a matter of living with greater intentionality, following the patterns of success that, to be honest, are more Godly patterns of living anyway? Is it a matter of being reminded of your purpose to care for what God has given you to care for? Could it be that some of us may need to be separated from a phone? A relationship? A job? A habit of chaos for a habit of growth?

What is your purpose? What does it mean for God to "separate" you from chaos to order? What habits of intentionality can you form that lead you to the awesome life God wants for you?