Prepare the Way
A voice of one calling: “In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” –Isaiah 40:3
If you’ve ever found yourself waiting for something—a dream, a desire of your heart, a vision—for an extended period of time, it can certainly feel like a wilderness. You’re in the middle of it, there’s no turning back…but the way out isn’t clear and you’re not always sure which direction to turn next. At times it can feel endless. This well-known verse speaks to us about how to respond to these wilderness times in our life. Just waiting on the Lord isn’t all there is to it; how are we preparing for what is coming? What are we doing to prepare ourselves spiritually, emotionally, financially and logistically? While we cannot do anything to hasten the thing we desire to come to pass any quicker (without stepping outside of God’s perfect timing), we can be proactive in assuring that we are ready for that event when it does happen. Doing so, I think, is about acting in faith. By actively preparing for something we hope for but do not yet see, we are in some sense declaring that we trust and believe that God is going to make that thing happen in His time. It’s requires being bold in our faith, but I believe something positive happens in the spiritual realm when we step out boldly in faith.
When a couple is expecting a baby, do they wait to put the nursery together until after the baby is born? Of course not! They spend several weeks, even months, getting not only the nursery, but their entire home prepared for the arrival of that child. So it should be with us when we are waiting for our dream, our breakthrough, or our promise to arrive. Let us seek God today and ask Him to show us the areas where we are not yet prepared, and show us what we need to do to get prepared for His blessing.