Get ready ahead of time

Some people plan for the future; they are the wise ones. Like the ant preparing for winter, they know that it’s just a matter of time until trials and hardships come, and they do what they can now so that they will be ready. It means that they won’t be able to play much now, but survival is more important to them than pleasure.

Others don’t plan for the future at all. They want their good times now. Then, as the people in Noah’s day found out, there is no time or opportunity to go back and fix what is broken when the disaster strikes.

As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. (Matthew 24:37-39)

Hard times come because God sends them. I know that people bring it upon themselves; we build a house of cards out of our lives, so to speak, and then wonder why it all collapses around us at the worst time. But the Scripture says that God uses those catastrophes for his own ends: to judge the wicked, and to discipline his people. Only the pagans deny this, because they live in constant terror at the thought that such a God could rule over them in this way.

One nation was being crushed by another and one city by another, because God was troubling them with every kind of distress. (2 Chronicles 15:6)

It’s not a matter of if trials will happen, it’s a matter of when. The wise understand this. The wise also know that the best way to be ready for trials and hardships in this world is not to build bunkers in your basement and change all your money into gold. The way to prepare is to start learning the truth from Jesus and build it into your life.

Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built.
But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete. (Luke 6:46-49)

Ignore him at your peril! He knows the kind of foundation you will need when physical hardships happen: a spiritual foundation. You may not understand now how the two relate to each other, but you will later. The Creator knows that you need a spiritual Rock to stand on when the foundations of this world are swept away underneath you; it will happen to everybody, to God’s people as well as to the wicked. There is no lasting hope in things in this world.

You must come to Jesus so that he can open up your heart and, like a doctor, cut that cancer out of you so that you will live. You must establish a relationship with God if you hope to survive. Your sinful flesh must be crucified, and you must start walking the road back to God, if you hope to live. It will seem hard to do this, giving up this world that you love so much so that you can lay claim to the next world; but it’s a matter of discipline, and discipline is never easy.

Anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. (Matthew 10:38-39)
No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. (Hebrews 12:11)

God doesn’t owe this world anything, not when it wallows in rebellion, wickedness, murder, lust and idolatry. Anybody with “eyes to see” will know that disaster is lurking right around the corner. Men and nations have been destroyed all throughout history, not by natural forces but by the hand of God bringing them to the end of their ways. The more that people store up the wrath of God against them, the darker the storm clouds get, and the more concerned the people of God should become. It’s time to look to our own souls and make sure that we are not the target of his wrath!

Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new Heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness. So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. (2 Peter 3:11-14)

Notice what Peter says is the hot issue: “make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him.” Nobody will be able to hide themselves from God the Judge when he comes to uncover their hearts. The righteous will be saved (not the rich or the strong or the wise), and the wicked will be destroyed. God is going to separate his people from the chaff, and save them from the wrath to come.