Our God is a God of preparation. Joseph told Pharaoh that his dream was repeated to show that the thing was "prepared (established) of God." Gen. 41:32. Here was a God of preparation in providence.
The same is true in nature; "He prepareth rain for the earth." Psa. 147:8; and it is equally true when providence and nature combine. "The Lord prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah." God was the builder of that life-boat. "God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah;" the same God prepared "a worm," and "a vehement east wind" (Jonah 1:17; 4:6, 7, 8).
Can we wonder our God prepared salvation itself through the precious blood of Christ before the foundation of the world? 1 Peter 1:20.
"Thou, O God, hast prepared of Thy goodness for the poor." Psa. 68:10.
These thoughts came to me over a cup of tea, thoughts even more refreshing than the beverage. We, a group of Christians were traveling, and in the late afternoon found lodging with a cottager. One of our party got tea ready. The others stood aside, lest too many brewers might spoil the brew. While we sat and enjoyed our tea, one of us thought of a plan by which to preach the Gospel to the woman in whose home we were staying.
"What a number of people have worked to prepare this cup of tea!" he remarked. "Somebody got the kettle and the wood, this good woman boiled the water and scalded the tea leaves, and I poured it out. All that these others have to do is to drink it.”
"You must go farther back," said one of the party, as if afraid present company might get too much credit. "A Chinaman prepared the soil; others planted and tended the plant; others picked, dried, and packed it; still others exported it; sailors brought it over the ocean; merchants bought it; and now -”
"Without doing anything, you gentlemen drink it," said the first speaker.
This was the moment for the application; and it was suggested that, in this, one could discern that the cup of tea was like God's salvation. He did all the preparing, and lost sinners have only to accept and enjoy it.
It was put thus:—"God promised salvation in Eden, it was prophesied throughout the Old Testament, it was perfected by Jesus Christ Himself, and now it is proffered by the Holy Spirit. All we have to do is to `take the cup of salvation,' and be refreshed and saved.”
"Mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people." Luke 2:30, 31.
"If we do this," added another of the group, "we shall soon say, 'My cup runneth over." Psa. 23:5.
How difficult it is to get thirsty sinners to see that God prepares this cup! They must, they imagine, bring their own sugar or milk; or at least they must bring their own mugs. No; God, who prepared a body for Jesus (Heb. 10:5), prepares a perfect salvation through Jesus. He treats us as Queen Esther treated the king, and says, "Come this day unto the banquet that I have prepared" (Esther 5:4). Since bidden ones would want more than a mere invitation, He says: "Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fallings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage." Matt. 22:4. The preparation is all on God's side. "Thou preparest a table before me." Psa. 23:5.
But we have left the tea-table for a dinner-table. Let us get back to our china cup. As the lady of the house did not seem very clear as to whether she had really received God's salvation, we presented a further illustration directly to her.
"It would not say much for our tea, if these friends, all the evening, were in doubt whether you had served them. Suppose someone asked them, 'Have you had a cup of tea?' And they answered, 'I'm not quite sure; I half think I have, but I am very uncertain.' Will they talk like that? Would it be complimentary to you if they did?”
"No, sir, I should think not.”
"Nor is it to God's praise if, having drunk of His pardoning grace, it has so little refreshed us that we doubt if we have ever tasted it. We must first drink what He has prepared, and then from a grateful heart extol the richness of the cup.”
Our God is a God of preparation. "Eye hath not seen what He hath prepared" (Isa. 64:4; 1 Cor. 2:9); but it includes "a place" here, into which He will bring us (Ex. 23:20), and "a place" which He has gone to prepare for us yonder (John 14:2); "a city" (Heb. 11:16), and "a kingdom" (Matt. 25:34), which "shall be given to them for whom it is prepared" (Matt. 20:23).
I do not even have to get my heart into a right state to receive God's provision, for "the preparation of the heart in man... is from the Lord" (Prov. 16:1). I take God's salvation in all its preparedness, and He takes me in all my unpreparedness.
"No preparation can I make,
My best resolve I only break,
Yet save me for Thine own name's sake,
And take me as I am!”
"As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live.”
Ezek. 33:11