…He did while the man was sleeping.
But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. The Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
Genesis 2:20-22
Apart from his rib and his need, Adam really had nothing to do with Eve.
He had catalogued all of the animals, but he couldn’t find a suitable helper.
So God made him fall asleep.
And did in a moment what Adam couldn’t have done in a lifetime.
It’s no different with us. Some of God’s greatest achievements will have very little to do with our effort. They’ll come from an unconscious or unknown place.
Some of your best ideas will come to you seemingly from out of nowhere.
Some of your best sermons will take you twenty minutes to write.
Some of you greatest successes will happen not because of you. But despite you.
That doesn’t mean you don’t work hard. Or that everything is going to come easy for you all of the time. After all, how long do you think it took Adam to name all of the animals before God made Eve? A day? I doubt it.
It just means that even when your work is done, the work isn’t done.
It just means that even when you have exhausted all your efforts, God hasn’t even begun to exercise His.
It just means that we don’t have to live under the illusion that the world rises and falls on our abilities.
But on the One who can still do His best work even while we’re sleeping.
