Timing, Trust, Provision

I am not a late-in-the-day napper. There is just something about it that completely throws me off. I don’t like going to sleep while it’s bright outside and waking up when it’s dark. This might sound weird—but it completely puts me in a funk. My mood changes, I wake up feeling a bit gloomy, confused, and I feel like I’ve completely missed the day. It takes me hours to shake the feeling. I know, it’s a whole thing. For this reason, I try to avoid them.

What would the world be like if it never got dark? Like ever. What if there was no night and brightness just radiated constantly? But get this, it didn’t come from the sun or lamps. Now, there are some places where the sun is out more than 20 hours a day (re: certain months in Alaska); however, at some point there is a dawn or dusk or inclement weather that causes the sun to not shine as bright.

Well, in the New Jerusalem, that will be non-existent. This is what revelation says the New Jerusalem will be like. It will have no darkness. The light of the Lord Himself will shine upon His servants with no dependency on the sun or lamps. And get this, there will be no end. I don’t know about you, but I have such a hard time comprehending eternity and the fact that His Kingdom and Heaven will go on and on and on, forever.

So, I read this and thought to myself, this is cool. This is awesome. I like knowing what’s coming—but is that it? Was this just for my knowledge of what was to come? What do I do with this in the here and now? How do I take this and apply it to life today, right now?

For me, this shows me that there will be no need for any natural interventions since they will be relying only on God's complete supernatural provision.

Wow. What if I lived my life today not relying on natural interventions that I can see with my human eyes? What do I need today? Well, my son has been sick. I need healing for him. On other days the interventions I need are help on the job, peace for my soul, a breakthrough for a friend, and the list goes on. What do you need today? What if we chose to rely solely on God’s complete supernatural provision?

I know this is in the context of the New Jerusalem where everything is perfected and there is no more brokenness. There is the comfort there of knowing that there will be no disappointment and God will 100% come through. But I’m learning in this season that His perceived silence or a “no” from God isn’t Him not coming through. There are mysteries that we must lean into. We lean with faith and trust that He knows what’s best and has made the best decisions for us. We must trust that in our relentless persistence, we will at last one day find what we seek, receive the answers that we’ve been asking about, and walk through that door that finally opens after the persistence of knocking. We must trust that His perceived slowness in coming through isn’t slowness as we define it. Rather, it is His patience that causes what appears to be a delay, but He is not in a rush as we are. His timing is different than ours. He is not in a hurry because He sees the end from the beginning. He is a perfect Father who will have His way in the end, and we must learn to grow in our trust in Him.

Today, what do I need? Identify it, name it and define it. And then, ask what natural resources I’ve been depending on to come through, and where I can trust more in the supernatural provision of God. Take my eyes off of the temporary things I can see, and trust in the eternal things I cannot see. He is working, He is moving, I only need to trust in His divine provision and timing.

“And there will be no night there—no need for lamps or sun—for the Lord God will shine on them. And they will reign forever and ever.”

Revelation 22:5 NLT

“The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.”

2 Peter 3:9 NLT

“So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.”

2 Corinthians 4:18 NLT

-R 🤍