Prepared

September 15, 2024

“Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel.”  —Ezra 7:10

Yesterday I asked how you are preparing your heart to seek God. But what does that mean, and how can we do it? First of all, consider the reason we need to prepare: 

““The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings.” —Jeremiah 17:9-10 

We need to prepare our hearts because they are deceitful and wicked. I don’t need to look at anyone else to know this is true. All I need is to look inside me. It’s easy to imagine everything’s OK, but if I’m honest, I know it really isn’t. When I allow God’s Word to expose me to his standards, which are always different than our own (Isaiah 55:8-9), I learn quite quickly that I fall far short of where I want and need to be. Even when I try my best, my heart can easily take me down a road to a dead end. 

If I fail to prepare my heart to seek God, I’ll always end up seeking a god of my own imagination instead of the One True God revealed in the Scriptures. That God can be uncomfortable, which is why I need to prepare to meet him. Even though I know he loves me, I often feel like the unruly student called into the principal’s office. I need to prepare. And when I do, instead of the scolding I anticipate, I find grace, forgiveness, and love.