Making Preparations

“Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.” (Am 4:12 AV)

The context here is a bit bleak.  Unresponsiveness to the correction of God is the context.  Therefore, the warning.  We will not consider this admonition quite this way this morning.  Israel had repeated opportunities to respond to the correcting hand of God, yet ignored it.  This admonition was a statement of the inevitability to face a God whom they had failed.  This meeting would be in the form of a final judgment.  This judgment would be the destruction of Jerusalem and the scattering of God’s people.  This is indeed bleak.  We will consider this admonition in a less bleak, yet equally challenging way.

As believers, we have the privilege of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  We may not be that much different from Old Testament Israel, but, we do have the ability to be a bit more successful in living for the LORD.  Maybe not all that much.  But at least a little bit.  We also live under grace as opposed to the law.  This does not mean the LORD has done away with the principles of the Old Testament law.  Separation, in principle, is still the law.  Holiness, in principle, is still the law.  It is just that under grace, the motive and consequences are different.  Nonetheless, we will still face the LORD face to face and give account for how we used this life, both physical and spiritual, for the benefit of God’s glory.  Even more than that, we know that we shall see Him face to face.  There should be some preparatory work for such a meeting.  Don’t you think?

Year ago, one of our presidents came to our home town for a meeting with local businesses.  I forget the exact reason for this meeting and it really doesn’t matter.  The important thing to mention was the preparation beforehand for our head of state to visit and travel in our home town.  This really impressed me.  There were only a couple of spots where someone could see the motorcade pass by.  Secret Service had done their homework and scouted out a route that left the president well-guarded.  He was hardly exposed to any type of threat.  At a designated time, all traffic; vehicular, pedestrian, and air traffic was halted along that route.  The closest anyone could get to that motorcade was a mile off.  I remember because at the moment our president had left the site of his meeting, I was at an intersection on my way to work and looked down that road a mile off and saw that motorcade enter the expressway.  The entire state, county, and local authorities made preparation for his visit.  Life was turned upside down as this visit was the most important event to happen in a long time.

One wonders how much we prepare to meet our God every day.  We read His word.  We pray our prayers.  But do we prepare our hearts?  How much meditation and humiliation is exercised before we begin this meeting?  How much reflection over our current condition occurs as we consider just who it is that we are about to meet.  Often, but not nearly enough, I try to get into my mind a picture of entering an overwhelming throne room with a potentate so glorious I am forced to my knees.  Like Moses falling prostrate at the visit of God in the burning bush, our hearts should do the same.  Maybe we are not facing the judgment of God as our context expounds.  But we do claim to meet our God every day.  So, how much preparation do we take?