Preparation Place
"The Lord has made everything for its purpose.” (Proverbs 16:4) The Lord has His own way of preparing believers for the journey of life that we face. That path may not always be what we expect or desire, but we can know that our heavenly Father never makes a mistake and that He has our best interest at heart. Every one of us will go through preparation for future use in God’s kingdom. Sometimes we get so impatient with the preparation that we fail to glean all the wisdom the Lord is trying to teach us.
When the Lord uses trials and testings to prepare us, many times we will feel abandoned. A few of the questions that may rise in our hearts are: Where is God? How can this possibly be any good for me? Does God still love me? With the rapid fire of a gatling gun we face the barrage of questions that challenges our faith in God’s goodness. We get too busy looking at the now that we fail to see what He has in store for us around the corner.
Think about Moses. In a supernatural way the Lord saw to it that he was reared by Pharaoh’s daughter in the palace. Moses was educated in the best available schooling of that day. He learned the Egyptian’s culture and language, their fears and pride. He understood their ways and economy, their power and weaknesses. After all, until he discovered that His mother was one of the Hebrew slaves, he must have felt superior to others. Then God sent Moses into the desert in order to reveal His law to him. Standing upon the ‘Holy Ground’ of Mount Sinai, Moses was commissioned to free the Hebrew slaves. God prepared him in the palace of Egypt and sent him into the desert to lead the children of Egypt.
Then there was Joseph, one of the twelve sons of Jacob. He was trained as a desert nomad and rejected by his own brothers. God taught him hard lessons as his brothers sold him into slavery and into Egyptian bondage. In His mysterious way, the Lord prepared Joseph in the desert and sent him to the palace.
Whether God is preparing you in the palace for the desert, or in the desert for the palace, let us be faithful to recognize and be thankful for His wisdom. He alone understands what we will face in life, and He alone can prepare our hearts for the hurdles we may face. The Lord is like an old football coach who tells his players, “Boys, learn the fundamentals and when the game is on the line, that which you are familiar with through diligent practice will take over.” Jesus is not wasting a single day of our life. He is moving things into place so that we can fulfill the plans He has. It is important that we remain thankful as He walks us through our…preparation place!
