TUESDAY

SCRIPTURE: Genesis 1:1-2; 2:7; Ezekiel 37:9-14; Acts 2:1-4

Have you ever heard someone say, “Let’s just stop and take a deep breath”? Perhaps you have said it yourself. It is, in fact, the first thing we do when we enter the world for the first time as a newborn. In Hebrew thinking, that is where life begins. The ideas of breath, wind, and Spirit are all tied together, sometimes being expressed by the same word. In that same passage we noticed yesterday in which the Spirit of God is hovering over the waters of creation, the idea of the Spirit being wind that is blowing over the waters can also be found. In Genesis 2:7, we find God breathing life into Adam in the moment of his creation. In Ezekiel, we hear him being told to prophesy to the “wind” and how as that breath entered into the bodies, newly assembled from dry bones, they stood as the people of God in a startling portrayal of resurrected life! All of these are images of the Spirit of God, like wind or breath, blowing or breathing new life into God’s people. And of course, there is imagery of Pentecost when the Spirit breathes life into the early church. It is an incredible metaphor to try to wrap our minds around as we ponder the way God works! No wonder when Jesus wants to describe to Nicodemus what life is like for the “born again,” he draws from the same imagery. It’s like the wind, he says. You can’t see, control, or even map the Spirit, but you can see the effects. People’s lives are changed when God breathes the good news into them. (Even Scripture, Paul says in 2 Timothy 3:16, is “God-breathed”!) As you ponder this imagery, take a few moments to reflect on these questions:

• To what extent do you experience your time with God as an opportunity to pause and take a deep breath, allowing God to breathe life into you?

• Think of times when you have been running, working, or experiencing something so intently that you are literally out of breath, and you have to pause and just concentrate on breathing until you have recovered. Do you have moments like that in your walk with God? How do you deal with such moments?

• In what ways is the imagery of life being breathed into us different from the imagery of striving for something or working at being alive? Explain.

• What do you think Jesus was trying to help Nicodemus understand better in using this kind of imagery? What do you think Jesus would most like us to see in it?

• What speaks most powerfully to you as you reflect on these passages and just take a few moments to breathe?

Take a few moments to be with God in prayer, sharing what you are finding in this passage and allowing God to breathe new life into you for today.