Hope For The Best, Prepare For The Worst – But Always Have Faith!

Word-Of-The-Day:  ‘For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.’ (James 2:26)

During lunch yesterday among friends in our family of fellowship, the conversation turned to discussing the Rapture.  Most people have the mindset that they need not be concerned of the perils of the Tribulation as they will be ‘long gone’ as it is thought that Jesus will call His Church (the Faithful in Him) to His side prior to the onset of the End-Times and its Judgements.  Thus, this mindset leads to ‘why do I need to be prepared for something I won’t have to deal with?’  It is my opinion, perhaps an unpopular one to many in modern Christianity, that this mindset is not proper, and it could be a dangerous one for the Christian to have.

Many people believe in a Pre-Tribulation Rapture of the church, and it is the hope that this is God’s plan as well, as it will allow His children to avoid the seven years of the Judgements (the seven Seals, the seven Trumpets, and the seven Bowls) that will bring God’s final wrath upon the sinful earth before it is replaced with the new Earth (along with a new Heaven), as written in the Book of Revelation.

However, the belief in a Pre-Tribulation Rapture did not come into vogue until the mid-1800’s, when Reverend John Nelson Darby of Great Britain and several others promoted the belief.  The Bible itself does not have a direct mention of the word ‘Rapture’ itself or of it being before the Tribulation period.  Up until the mid-1800’s, the belief among Christians was either there would be no Rapture, or it would come in the latter half (‘Mid-Trib’ Rapture) or at the end of the Tribulation period (‘Post-Trib’ Rapture).

I am speaking of this not to scare anyone or to scoff at the idea of the Pre-Tribulation Rapture, but to provide a word of caution – I am one who hopes those who believe in a Pre-Tribulation Rapture are correct, but am preparing – if I live long enough to see the Tribulation period begin (which as the years go by seems to be less likely) – to live through the perils of the Tribulation.  I don’t say this lightly, but the best thing for today’s Christian is to pass into Eternity with Christ before the Tribulation begins.  But it is not guaranteed that we will all be afforded this blessing – at some point, the End-Times will start, and some will be alive to see it.  It may not be this generation but several down the road, or it may come tomorrow – only God knows…

We cannot simply hope, and not prepare otherwise, that God will hand us Christians a ‘golden parachute’ (as a pastor and good friend of mine once mentioned) to avoid the effects of God’s wrath upon the world.  God did not do this for Daniel and those of great Faith when the Israelites were forced into Babylonian exile, nor did He spare Joshua and Caleb from wandering in the wilderness for an additional forty years before they could enter Canaan.   Instead, we should prepare to live as if we are going through the seven-year wrath of the End Times, physically, emotionally, and most importantly, Spiritually; it is better to be prepared and not need our preparations than to not be prepared entering the turmoil.

I have used this quote before: “You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end—which you can never afford to lose—with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.”, from former Vice-Presidential candidate and Vice Admiral James B. Stockdale, US Navy.  Have Faith we as Christians will prevail!  I’ve read the end of the Bible and – spoiler alert! – through God, we win.  But as God did not spare Jeremiah, or Elijah, or David, or even His Son, Jesus from the effects of His punishments upon the disobedient Jews and mankind as a whole, we will go through turbulent times as well. 

If the late Vice Admiral Stockdale’s quote was converted into a Scripture reference, James 2:26 would be it.  Faith is of the utmost importance; we must have the Faith in that which we believe but do not yet know.  As we grow in our Faith it turns into Knowledge as our commentary should change from ‘I hope God will…’ to ‘I know God will…’. 

But human nature is such that while we believe what we can tangibly see, we are wary of what we cannot see.  Thus, we all have some trepidation of the future; not necessarily the very end result as Christians end up in Heaven with our Lord Jesus, per His promises during His earthly ministry and His book of Revelation, but our near-and long-term earthly futures.  We hedge our bets with life insurance and savings as we don’t know when our employability will come to an end, or what our fate will be on the roads when we go out to run errands or go shopping later today. 

We often think of ‘works’ as ‘what God wants us to do’ and that is rightfully (to a point) translated in our thinking as ‘for others’.  This is certainly true; Works should be to spread the Gospel through delivering food baskets, requesting prayers from strangers, and (especially) sharing the Gospel with those who may not have yet received Jesus as Lord. 

However, Works can be inward as well.  God instructed Noah to build the Ark, for example, to save himself and his family (and at least a pair of each animal).  We have an obligation to be prepared to weather the storms to be the bedrock for others to hold onto.  Having Faith that the Lord will take care of us is very important to have, but the Lord also calls us to be prepared for those things that may come our way.  Putting away for a rainy day is not a greedy act but of preparation; during a hurricane a few years ago, we unexpectedly went from sheltering my mother and the two of us, to sheltering two additional couples, a single woman, and several cats and dogs. 

We were prepared, though not as prepared as we should have been, to handle the sudden expansion of people and everyone had what they needed to get through the hurricane in relative safety and comfort.  It was the Lord who provided what we needed to get through that circumstance.  But what we lacked in preparation for that event, we made up for it in the Faith that the Lord would provide, not what we necessarily wanted in terms of preparation but in what we needed for the several days to make it through the worst of the storm’s experience.  Today, we are prepared for extra people and several hurricanes afterward, we did shelter several others.

Have Faith that the Lord will guide us through the worst of the storms and that He will provide for us and protect us.  However, bad things happen due to bad events to Righteous people.  Do not lose Hope when we enter times of turmoil but allow your Faith to persevere in those times, as Job did during his times of turmoil, as did Daniel during his time in exile, and as Paul did during his captivity in Rome.  Pray and Hope for the best, but be prepared and have Faith when encountering the worst!