This month we have seen weather that will be talked about for many years. I know one of the things I will remember most about this time is going to the grocery store and seeing the shelves empty. This has been a more frequent occurrence since the onset of the COVID virus. The cause of this is not lack of adequate supplies but a result of panic shopping. People panic at the thought of not having enough and over shop to prepare in case grocery supplies are depleted. With the rise in shows, magazines and books dealing with “preppers” and plans to prepare for hard days, many find themselves in a state of fear when faced with the possibility of not having enough to survive. This has always been a possibility for as long as man has been outside the garden of Eden and people have wrestled with this fear as a result. Jesus addresses this fear in Matthew 6 beginning at verse 25 where he says “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? v26 “Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” The real point is made a few verses earlier starting at v19 where Christ says “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; v20 “but lay up for your selves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. v21 “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Christ highlights the point of where our focus should be and where are true preparations should be focused. In the time of Noah, the world was corrupt and all flesh had corrupted their way on earth. God could no longer tolerate the things that men were doing so he called upon Noah to prepare the ark so that mankind could continue after God destroyed the world with water. Noah adhered to God’s command even though there had never been a flood or even a storm cloud in the sky. As recounted in Hebrews 11:7 “By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.” Today, we still prepare for floods, hurricanes and storms but God promised He would never destroy the world by water again. God signed that promise with the seal of the rainbow that we can still see today. God never warned us to prepare for another flood. God has commanded us to prepare for something more eternally serious. In Second Peter 2, beginning at v4 “For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgement; v5 and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly; v6 and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly;” Peter is giving us God’s real warning which is to live a righteous life and also giving us the consequences of not heeding that warning. The Bible tells of many who did not adhere to God’s commandments and prepared for the wrong things. Proverbs 16 begins at v1 “The preparations of the heart belong to man, But the answer of the tongue is from the Lord. v2 All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, But the Lord weighs the spirits. v3 Commit your works to the Lord, and your thoughts will be established. v4 The Lord has made all for Himself, yes, even the wicked for the day of doom.” Man’s plans will always fail if they are not righteous and are not in accordance with what God has directed. Proverbs 16 continues in v9 “A man’s heart plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps.” Reading through the books of Kings, you see so many kings who began their reigns with what was right in the sight of the Lord. But few prepared adequately to have the kingdom that God wanted by allowing the high places to remain. These high places where the temples of other gods where the people burned incense and made sacrifices to these gods. Every time you read that a king allowed the high places to remain, you see a king who succumbed to defeat by idolatry in some form. Many kings thought it appropriate to prepare armies or devices of war but it was the spiritual battles that few were prepared for. God showed the kings over and over that he would see them through wars and famines but their failure was not preparing for the true enemy which was the Baals and spiritual adultery.
We have a place prepared for us. Jesus tells us in John 14:1- 4 “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. v2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. v3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” This is such a beautiful thought that Christ is preparing a place specifically for each of us. He does not promise that we will never be hungry or never face physical hardships. Christ even said “In the world you will have tribulations; but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world.” John 16:33. We must keep our focus on the thing that requires our true preparation which is our salvation. God has prepared a place for us. It is up to us to now prepare ourselves to be citizens of the holy city and to fight the spiritual battles we will face to make the journey. We have been given the whole armor of God. Ephesians 6:10-18 lists the vital pieces of that armor we need to prepare for the spiritual battles. It is up to us to prepare for the spiritual battles that we are guaranteed to encounter. Natural disasters may occur and we may suffer hardships because of these storms. Still, you may be able to avoid those storms. But God has set day of judgment and everyone will have their part. There will be nothing to panic shop for to see you through that day. Only those who have prepared spiritually will see the home that Christ has prepared for us all. Don’t you want to see what Christ has prepared for you?