I would find myself whispering it to a friend on the phone, texting it in a message to my mom, and saying it on repeat to my own soul… this is time of preparation.
And Job’s youngest friend would remind him, too: the importance of preparing his heart in a season of turmoil and disruption in the highest form.
Zophar’s words in Job 11:13 echo my own hearts cry, “If only you would prepare your heart and lift up your hands to Him in prayer!”
Prepare.
Because this is our training ground.
My commentary would get at my heart in my quiet time, “…let nothing be left undone to cleanse the heart, the imagination, the inward chambers of the soul, in preparation for the coming of the gracious, renewing, consecrating presence of the Divine guest.”
And I wonder… is this what we are on the brink of… the coming of the gracious, renewing, consecrating presence of the Divine guest?
Ahh… then how magnificently important must our preparation be?
You… Christian soldier… were designed for this.
You were made for hard things.
Our business is to humbly attach ourselves to Jesus… by prayer, by supplication, by sincere repentance and by seeking Him with a pure and upright heart.
We might never get this opportunity again… to give Him a sacrifice that costs something of this magnitude.
And my personal conviction is to make the best of the time I have been given.
To make right any brokenness in relationships.
To repent of any known sin I am committing.
To position myself on my knees in prayer for our city, our country, the world.
To condition myself to steward well the blessing when it comes.
To express my longings with the urgency they require, and to anchor my love, my affections, and my devotion into the heart of Jesus Christ.
And like I said to a friend just yesterday, “In ALL of my life… may Jesus be glorified!”
I will say it again as often as I can… Jesus WILL be glorified and I WILL be strengthened.
May I make good use of this training ground.
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