Preparation

The Lord has really been impressing on my heart as of late the fact that He is always providentially working in my life. Specifically, He has been teaching me the truths about His character and how He sovereingly works through trials, delays and disappointments to prepare us. The word "preparation" has also been coming up a lot over the past couple months. It seems to be in everything I hear or read. On Sunday two separate people spoke about preparation, some scriptures I was reading today spoke of God's high view of preparation and a blog post I came across had the following quote about none other than preparation.

"Like an astute coach or a gifted teacher, God prepares his saints for the tasks to which he has appointed them before he uses them. Moses, for example, spent forty years in the desert, herding sheep, before God called him to lead his people out of Egypt. What better preparation in patience could there have been for his assignment of leading an equally stubborn flock of people through wilderness for forty years? Similarly, David learned courage from his own experience as a shepherd. Later the one who had learned how to take on wild animals in the defense of his flock would be called upon to take on the biggest wild animal of all, mighty Goliath, in the defense of God's flock. God knows how to prepare his people for the tasks to which they are assigned" (from Living in the Gap Between Promise and Reality by Iain M. Duiguid).

It encourages me when I consider that everything I am going through and will go through has a purpose. It encourages me when I read story after story in the Bible and see God's detailed preparations and beautiful outcomes. It encourages me to know that God loves me enough to use His word and others to speak into my life in order to help me direct my gaze to Him more completely. It encourages me to know that even through present circumstances, He is using it as a tool to conform me to the image of Christ and make me more useful for what He has instore. So, we have to ask ourself, "What task is God calling me to today?" What herd of sheep are you called to look after today? Maybe it's a wearisome task such as a full work or school schedule, backed up chores at home, serving someone in need in the midst of your own busy calendar. It's preparation for a task. Or what about a wild animal like Iain Duiguid spoke of in his quote? Is there a prowling trial in your life? Physical, relational or something else? It's preparation for a task. I thank God for His care in preparing me for the tasks He will call me to.

Our astute AND loving Coach has us in training. Let’s look to Him in faith and meet our task with courage.