Prepare to meet thy God!

Amos 4:12

Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.

The prophet Amos had been sent by God to give a message of great warning and of judgment to Israel. For God had already sent pestilence, and the palmerworm, and sickness, and many other judgments, not only to punish His people, but to get their attention. And this is ever how the Lord works. For He does punish, as we know, but the punishment is not an end in itself. He does not punish just to punish—until the great judgment day comes. For it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment. But until that great judgment day, God is punishing people to beckon men to repentance so that they may escape on judgment day! For you see! God did all these things with Israel, but they still were obstinate, rebellious, and ignorant. After all that He did, yet they had not returned unto the Lord! After all His trials and all His attempts. After all His beckoning and after all His prophetic pronouncements, still they went on in their ways as cattle led to destruction and slaughter. He even saved them at times from worse destruction, often as a firebrand plucked out of the burning! Yet, they did not return to Him. All options and possibilities had been exhausted. And now the Lord says, “Prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.”

Prepare to meet thy God! We must all meet our God! But let us be careful that we shall meet Him in peace. This appointment with Him is inevitable and inescapable. But why should we fear? If we have not been rebellious and if we have not been obstinate, why should we have apprehension in our hearts about that day? The only reason we should fear and dread such a meeting with the Lord would be if we have disregarded His commands and neglected following Him. But as the great apostle John tells us, it is possible that “we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.”

Confidence! We may not be ashamed before Him! How will this happen. The answer is obvious and on the surface for anyone to gather up. 1 John 2:28 says, “And now, little children, abide in Him.” That’s the answer! Abide in Him! Be not diverted, distracted, or dismayed by those things that may vie for your allegiance. Keep your allegiance with Him. Say right! Stay close! It will prepare you to meet Him! And then you may say that when He shall appear, you will have confidence, and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. You shall see Him one day. You shall behold Him! There is no need for great fear if we have been abiding in Him. Beloved, abide in Him, as we have been taught, and then, and only then, we shall be prepared to meet our God.

“Dear Lord, we know that we shall see you one day, and moreover, we shall gaze eternally upon your face. What a wondrous and glorious moment this shall be! And we pray that, if there are things that may cause shame and embarrassment when we see you, as Israel had many such things, may we throw those off, and lay aside every sin that doth so easily beset us. And we pray that, even now, we may have confidence, and our hearts would be ready to meet you when that time comes. Help us this day to prepare to meet our God. In Christ’s name we pray, Amen.”