Let Them Be Ready

“…and let them be ready for the third day, for on the third day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.” Exodus 19:10-11

Our minds are bombarded with hundreds of things everyday.  We are pulled in so many directions that when we attempt to give attention to one specific thing, our focus can be limited and filled with distractions.  Sometimes we take these distractions into our worship time, Bible study, and prayer lives.  Our minds toggle between each distraction and we don’t prepare ourselves to meet with God.

God told Moses to have the Israelites to prepare themselves to meet with Him, as He was to descend like a cloud from Mount Sinai.  God gave Moses specific instructions for how the Israelites were to consecrate themselves so that they would be ready for visitation from their holy God.  Consecration is the act of setting yourself apart or dedicating yourself to God, which could be for His service and to demonstrate loyalty.  Because God is so holy and is to be reverenced, the Israelites could not appear before the Lord as they appeared before men.  They were to treat their meeting with the Lord as sacred and not as a common occurrence. 

As you prepare to spend time with the Lord, whether it be corporate worship with other believers or individually as personal worship, be intentional about preparing your heart and mind to give full attention to your worship time, Bible study, and prayer. Make it a point to not allow your mind to wander or to be lured away by distractions. Preparation isn’t to say that we can make ourselves ready for salvation. God, in His great mercy, sent Christ as our Redeemer so that we do not have to perform works, sacrificial ceremonies, and rituals for the forgiveness of sin as in the Old Testament. Now, we need only to trust in Christ alone who made us eternally ready when He made us righteous before our holy God. We can; however, make ourselves ready for daily fellowship with our heavenly Father by asking Christ to help us focus, as well as confessing and repenting of anything that has offended God and has grieved the Holy Spirit.

Give attention to the word of the Lord as you prepare for daily fellowship to meet with your heavenly Father. He desires that we love Him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength (Deuteronomy 6:5). Before His children meet with Him, He still calls out…”let them be ready…”.