Prepare Your Heart
Then Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, “If you return to the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths from among you, and prepare your hearts for the Lord, and serve Him only; and He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines.” 1 Samuel 7:3
In this passage of scripture, the Lord is telling the Israelites to return to Him with all their hearts, then tells them that after they have gotten rid of their idols, to prepare their hearts for Him. So the question becomes, if they have returned to the Lord with all their hearts, and do what He says, what does it mean to then prepare their hearts for Him? Have they not returned to Him wholeheartedly? Is this message something that might apply to us, even if we love the Lord with all our hearts and are living in obedience? Just how do we go about preparing our heart for the Lord? And why?
In this passage of scripture, the Lord is telling the Israelites to return to Him with all their hearts, then tells them that after they have gotten rid of their idols, to prepare their hearts for Him. So the question becomes, if they have returned to the Lord with all their hearts, and do what He says, what does it mean to then prepare their hearts for Him? Have they not returned to Him wholeheartedly? Is this message something that might apply to us, even if we love the Lord with all our hearts and are living in obedience? Just how do we go about preparing our heart for the Lord? And why?
To prepare is to set in order, get ready, make suitable – usually for a specific purpose, and to make receptive. To prepare our hearts for the Lord is to make ourselves ready to receive from Him. We prepare to receive His Word by first worshipping Him. This opens our hearts so that we are able to receive directly what He has for us from scripture. We prepare for our time of prayer by confessing. We must first confess any sin and remove hindrances before we can pray in such a way that the Lord will hear us. We prepare for our devotional time with the Lord by removing any distractions and becoming quiet and still before Him. Being still before the Lord prepares our hearts to receive from Him. It is during our stillness that God speaks to our hearts. It is then that we receive the strength we need for the day. It’s how our spirits receive rest. We come to a higher wisdom and deeper understanding through our stillness before God because in our stillness we give the Lord opportunity to plant what is needed in our hearts. He actually “works on” our hearts when we are still before Him and willing to receive. He brings cleansing, desired change, tenderness, courage, understanding, to our hearts when we allow Him to work. He works according to our prayers and He knows what we need. Think of the things you may work on… whatever they are, you need them to be still as you work. You can’t tie the shoe of a child who is running. You can’t change the tire of a car that is moving. In the same way, we need to become still before God to allow Him to work. God teaches us many things through adversity and for this reason we will always endure it from time to time. But aren’t you glad we don’t have to learn everything through adversity? If we will take the time to be still before Him each day, He will work in our hearts to prepare us for the day ahead. Are you ready to receive what He has for you today?