By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host. Psalm 33:6
Breath. The Hebrew is ruah.
It is a workhorse of a word.
In context, it can mean breath, air, strength, wind, or Spirit.
In Genesis 1:2 it is the Spirit hovering over the creation.
In Zechariah 4:6, it is the Spirit of power.
In Ezekiel 37, it transforms the dry bones into a great and mighty army.
Breath is creative.
It is life-giving.
It is strength and power.
But it is invisible.
It is the example Jesus used with Nicodemus to explain the Spirit’s unseen work.*
And it is at work in us today.
The Spirit of God.
Giving us life.
Making us a new creation.
Strengthening us.
Empowering us.
To bring glory to the Creator, the Savior, the One who gave us life.
And it started with breath.
*The New Testament was written in Greek so if you check John 3, you’ll see the word pneuma. Jesus spoke Aramaic, which was closely related to Hebrew. He would have used ruah or a word very similar to ruah. In fact, when the Old Testament was translated into Greek, the go-to word for ruah was usually pneuma.
For further thought, consider this familiar hymn Breathe on Me, Breath of God