Readiness

• I also said to the people at that time, “Let every man and his servant pass the night within Jerusalem, that they may be a guard for us by night and may labor by day.” So neither I nor my brothers nor my servants nor the men of the guard who followed me, none of us took off our clothes; each kept his weapon at his right hand.  (Nehemiah 4:22-23)
• In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the LORD's Passover. (Exodus 12:11)
• Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks.  
  (Luke 12:35-36)  

The Bible has a lot to say about readiness, being prepared, watchful, alert, sober-minded; even to the point (as in the verse from Nehemiah above) of sleeping fully dressed with a weapon at their side.  The image is of a soldier, fully alert, armed and ready at the first hint of danger or attack.  The Exodus passage points to another kind of readiness - a sense of urgency and waiting, ready to walk whenever and wherever.  Then, in the Luke passage, we read the description of a servant, always on stand-by, waiting expectantly for his master's return, ready to attend to his master's needs.  


These are all apt descriptions of a Christian disciple.  We are to be prepared and watchful, armed and waiting, listening and serving.  What does that look like in practical terms?  Obviously, we are not armed to the teeth ready to go to war!  Many of us have never served in war-time as soldiers or lived through a miraculous deliverance from slavery in a foreign land like that of the Israelites in Exodus.  


Really?  Are we sure about that?  Have you ever had someone on your mind for no apparent reason - can't seem to stop thinking about them?  The Lord may be calling you into battle - to intercede for your friend even if you don't know the details of the struggle.  Has your friend or loved one been in the middle of a potentially life-changing decision, crisis or moral dilemma - a crossroads where the wrong choice could result in serious consequences?  To pray at this moment is to enter into battle.  Or have you been the beneficiary of such prayers?  Have you been delivered from slavery to a sin or addiction that made you feel as if you were living in a foreign, strange "land"?  


We can't see the war that is being waged, the forces battling for and against us, with our human eyes.  The apostle Paul tells us that our battle is not against flesh and blood; but the battle is no less real, no less "deadly".  Don't kid yourself - it IS a matter of life and death; our enemy is  prowling around, seeking someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8) while our God is calling us to choose life. That's why we're given so many reminders and descriptors of readiness, preparedness and watchfulness.



Like Nehemiah, even as we prepare to sleep, we lie down wearing our spiritual "clothes" and "weapons". This "attire" is described by Paul in Ephesians 6:10-20.  We wear our salvation as a helmet protecting our head (our mind, our thoughts, words, imaginations and sight); our righteousness is as a breastplate protecting our heart, the very core of who we are; God's truth is belted around us, holding everything else in place.  Our feet are "wearing" readiness - readiness that is given to us by the Gospel - readiness to walk in the power of that Gospel wherever our Lord leads.  The last two items are at our side and in our hands - the sword and the shield: the Word of God and faith in, of and through our Lord.  These items of warfare are wielded offensively and defensively.  Faith is our shield, our protection against the flaming darts of the evil one (Eph 6:16) - those attempts by the enemy to assault our convictions, our right choices, our testimony and beliefs.  The Word of God - the sword of the Spirit - is the most powerful and, if you notice, the only weapon.  God's word needs to be part of us.  Spend time reading, listening, absorbing the Scriptures.  

• For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.  (Hebrews 4:12)
• All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.  (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

So, yes, we are to be alert, prepared and ready to respond to God's call.  Our preparedness is not left to us to figure out.  It is God's work in us, for us, and through us  - with our cooperation, of course.  He allows us to participate with him in his work on earth.  May God's kingdom come, his will be done on earth as it is in heaven!