so...

i left home early today to sell some books (got $45 for nic!) and to stop by the student store to check up on laptops since mine died a couple days ago (sigh, RIP. you have served me well). then i went to my classroom to wait for section to start, taking with me a copy of the Daily Cal cause i forgot to bring some reading. of all days. sigh.

the first article i read was about the cuts gov. schwartzenegger was planning on making on the cal grant, the sole form of financial aid i've had the past three years. this year, with the tanking of the economy, i was finally forced to make a loan. for this cut to go through would uber hurt my (parents') finances since they would have to pay for me and my sister, soon to be an incoming cal freshman.

but anyway. this is not an entry about money. well. maybe it kinda is. after reading the paper, i figured i still had some time left, so i whipped out my sword (aka the bible) to do some meaningful catch-up on romans. didn't work out, wasn't in the mood. :p my storyteller self wanted to read a story - something easy on the eyes, something easy for my paper-project-midterm-in-two-days'ed self.

so i flipped to genesis 1. i haven't read the book since i started my read-the-whole-bible venture, so it was a good time to revisit all the good stuff. all the tales. all the EPICness. all the history. yay.

THIS IS SOME GOOD STUFF AMEN. :)

if you're familiar with the whole Creation story, you know that, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. that he created light, called it good, and ended the first day. and that he separated water from water, calling the expanse "sky" (which, i'm guessing, means that he split water so that half of it was on earth and half was in the heavens - which came down during the Flood?), ending the second day.

...and that he gathered the waters together to create land and seas, calling it good, creating all sorts of plants, ending the third day. and that he created the sun and the moon and the stars to give light on the earth, calling it good, and ending the fourth day. and that he created the creatures of seas and of the skies according to their kind, calling it good, ending the fifth day. and that he created the creatures of the land according to their kind, and called it good.

you know. a "let there be, and it was so" kinda thing.

i was doing some close reading on this passage, something that many of us have heard billions of times when we were kids and have read billions of more times when we were older. but in all the two billions of times i've read this passage, i've noticed something new this time:

when God created the different things after he made the heavens and the earth - light, sky, land, seas, plants, the sun, the moon and the stars, birds and sea creatures and land animals - it says (in the NIV), "And God said..."

God created the heavens and the earth.and he created light.
and he created sky.
and he created land.
and he created seas.
and he created plants.
and he created the sun, the moon and the stars.
and he created birds and sea creatures.
and he created land animals.

"Then God said, 'Let us make man'" (v.27).

God made everything. then God created man.

Creation was in sequence. now, you might think, "well, duh" or whatever, but seriously. everything was done in sequence. someone mentioned before that it's a lot like how parents prepare everything - the room, the wallpaper, the crib, the blankets, the toys, the right temperature and lighting, etc etc - months in advance before they welcome their child into the world.

God intended that everything we need be already provided. he was preparing for our arrival. he was planning on creating us last, when it was just the right moment. throughout the whole creation process, he had us in mind constantly.

i thought about it. why didn't God just create the earth, then create man, then give us whatever we needed whenever we need?

it's not that he can't. he just didn't.

God can (and does sometimes) provide what we need whenever we need it, whenever we ask for it. but oftentimes, he waits to prepares things before he actually provides.

good news is, "Your Father knows what you need before you ask him" (Matthew 6:8). so. he is currently, right now, in the process of providing for me - whether it be for missions, for rent, for the car, for the laptop, for everything i need now, things i will need tomorrow, things i will need years, decades down the road. he can provide it right away, "with the snap of his fingers", but oftentimes he doesn't. why, i'll never completely understand, cause my brain's just not God-sized. :p

but what i have learned today is that He is providing for me.
he is waiting for just the right moment.

so i will be patient. and wait.

cause when what i need appears before me, it will be because it is at the right time, and because i will be at the right place.