Before Midnight Comes

By Javier & Alba

Some lessons do not end when we close the Bible. They keep walking with us long after the conversation is over. This Thursday, September 17, during our time together as a church, a tiny ant ended up taking us much farther than we expected. Proverbs 6 invited us to stop and pay attention to it: it works while there is opportunity, gathers while there is provision, and prepares before the difficult season arrives. It does not live anxious about tomorrow, but neither does it ignore it. And perhaps that is where one of the simplest and deepest forms of wisdom begins: understanding that trusting God does not mean living without a plan. It means learning to faithfully steward the time, opportunities, resources, and strength He places in our hands today. In one way or another, all of us are building toward a future: a family to care for, a decision to make, finances to put in order, a relationship to strengthen, a spiritual life to nurture. Tomorrow is not in our hands, but much of what we will carry into tomorrow begins to be prepared today.

Then we came to Proverbs 17 and discovered that preparing our hands is not enough; we also need to prepare our hearts. There we find peace, wisdom, restraint in our words, the ability to forgive, and the kind of maturity that knows how to remain steady when life begins to apply pressure. Because some seasons arrive without asking whether we are ready. One phone call changes our plans. An unexpected expense appears. A door closes. A relationship goes through a difficult stretch. An answer we have been waiting for takes longer than we hoped. And in those moments, we often discover what we have really been storing inside. That is why, as a community, we need to learn to plan for more than calendars and budgets; we need to prepare our souls as well. Save when we can. Reconcile while there is still time. Care for our health. Talk with our children. Put our priorities in order. Strengthen our relationship with God. And stop leaving for “someday” the very things that may become a source of strength for us tomorrow.

And finally, we found Paul and Silas in Acts 16, singing in a prison when everything seemed to be against them. That midnight did not create their faith; it simply revealed a faith that had been growing for a long time. They had learned to walk with God before the beating, the chains, and the stocks ever came. Maybe that was the picture that stayed with us most deeply today: the ant preparing before winter, Proverbs shaping the heart before the pressure, and two men worshiping when midnight finally came. That is what we want to learn as a community: to live in the present with gratitude, but also with responsibility; to enjoy what God has given us while wisely building toward what lies ahead. Because planning is not the same as fearing the future. Planning can also be an act of faith. It is a way of saying to the Lord, “I do not know what tomorrow will bring, but I want to arrive there having been faithful with what You placed in my hands today.” 

And perhaps, when our own midnight comes, we will discover that God had been preparing us for a long time to walk through it.

Javier & Alba