Did you feel it? Last year I heard/read/thought more about ‘prepping’ than I had my whole life. Pinterest pages, websites, stores….you almost couldn’t avoid it. Seeds and toilet paper sold out…RVs and trailers were bought off lots with alarming speed…people were moving out of cities like a tidal wave. Gardens became a necessary project…people tried to grow potatoes who never had (guilty).
Don’t get me wrong…I think there is good value in learning to grow what we need, to learn to sew, to get out and into the country life. These are so rewarding. God does require of us to be good stewards of what He has given us, in means and in knowledge. I think I’m going to try my hand at seed potatoes again, for that matter.
But the ‘self-sustainability’ part of it turns a cautious corner for those of us who are Christians and who, reading the Bible, believe in a foretold “End of Time”, a time of trouble and the promised return of Christ. Being raised in the church, I have heard about these all my life as well. And there was always this ‘getting ready for the time of trouble’ that we were warned about.
And I have to admit….with the direction the world has been/is going (I have officially turned off my news source)….the time of trouble does seem to be beginning, if not here. Sobering, yes. Exciting, yes. But….does that mean this is when we’re supposed to start the ‘prepping’ so that we can be ‘ready’ and so that we can ‘survive’ and ‘inherit the earth’. (Understand…these are all in quotes because they are both catch-phrases we’ve grown up with and lines from the Bible that are quoted). We’ve been told we need to be ‘ready.’ Well….where do I sign up for my ‘prepper 101 course.’
Because I want to go to heaven. I want to sit at Jesus feet. I’m tired of the hurt. But….I was too busy being me all my life and I’ve never had a green thumb…and I guess I don’t know where to start at being a true ‘prepper’….because I need to be ready for the time of trouble…so that I can inherit the Earth.
Does any of this sound familiar? Just me?
Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear…. Look at the birds of the air; they do no sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
… For [those who do not worship God] run after all these things, and your Heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Matthew 6:25-34 selections
First, let’s go back to the Bible. What did it just say about being a ‘prepper?’ You’re right, it doesn’t use the word. But the verses I just quoted should be my source for ‘prepping’ and worry….in other words. Don’t worry. Remember to seek God and his righteousness first…and He will take care of me. That doesn’t mean burn my garden plans…it just means, put God first, spend more time learning about Him than studying growing charts, He will direct me.
Now, look back at the words following “Seek first his kingdom”….what follows is going to be key. “…And his righteousness.” So….I was reading the last couple of days in a Bible commentary called Great Controversy (excellent book, read it if you haven’t). The chapters were discussing the foretold time of trouble, and I was in the mindset to ‘how to be prepared.’ This future time of trouble is likened to Jacob in the Old Testament, wrestling with an Angel. Jacob was to be meeting with his brother who he’d cheated out of his entire birthright, and who’d threatened to kill him years prior. Now Jacob is wrestling with an unseen Angel who he thinks, in a sleepy states, is his brother. He is literally disabled from the mighty Angel during the wrestling, and then he realizes that it is God he wrestles..and so he hangs on even harder, insisting that he will not let go until he knows he is forgiven of his sins! The authors says “As Satan influenced Esau to march against Jacob, so he will stir up the wicked to destroy God’s people in the time of trouble. And as he accused Jacob, he will urge his accusations against the people of God.” (p 618). Then this paragraph.
“Though God’s people will be surrounded by enemies who are bent upon their destruction, yet the anguish will they suffer is not a dread of persecution for the truth’s sake; they fear that every sin has not been repented of, and that through some fault in themselves they will fail to realize the fulfillment of the Savior’s promise: I ‘will keep the from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world.’ Revelation 3:10. If they could have the assurance of pardon they would not shrink from torture or death; but should they prove unworthy, and lose their lives because of their own defects of character, the God’s holy name would be reproached.” p 619
Do you see that? The time of trouble is not that we’ll not have clothes or a home or food…God has already promised to care for us…it’s that those who are followers of God will long after God’s righteousness, his forgiveness, hoping for the assurance He has given.
The beauty is that we hold also the promise of 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (American Standard Version). So in this time of trouble, just like Jesus cried out on the cross “Father…why have you forsaken me?”… it wasn’t because he didn’t believe God had forsaken him but that he couldn’t see/feel him for the first time. During the time of trouble, the sins that have been confessed and repented of ARE FORGIVEN and covered in Jesus blood…but as God has begun to pull his protection away, we will have to rely on what we believe and not what we feel. The knowledge that our sins are GONE.
So… is it the ‘preppers’ who are going to inherit the Earth? Like John the Baptist cried, even in the wilderness…”Repent!” REPENT! This is the answer. All the potatoes in the world may help me be more frugal…but it is the admittance of my sins…the repentance for them…and accepting the blessed grace of God that will take them away…and the solid belief in this…that will see me through to eternity.
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:3-10
Blessed are those who have or express “feelings of humility, humble, lowly, modest”…who repent…not the preppers…for they will inherit the earth.
