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And the LORD said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes and be ready by the third day, because on that day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.” Exodus 19:10-11 (NIV)

Imagine if you knew the Lord was coming to visit you the day after tomorrow. How would you prepare? What would you do for the rest of the day today and all day tomorrow? When I read this passage, I was caught up in such excitement that God was going to come down from heaven to visit with the people of Israel.

Moments later I was a bit convicted. God wants to come down and visit with me regularly, but I don’t always spend the time and effort necessary to prepare myself to receive Him. Perhaps even worse than that, I don’t anticipate God’s visit. I want to always be excited that TODAY is the day I will meet with God and He with me. What a way to live! In anticipation of hearing from the Creator of the universe.

God told the Israelites to “consecrate” themselves, to wash their clothes and to “be ready.” The word translated “consecrate” (or “sanctify” in the King James Version) is qadash and means “to make clean” or “keep holy” or “purify.” Before the Israelites were to meet with God, they were to clean themselves up and remain holy or set apart for Him. If I want to meet with God, I need to do all I can to make myself clean and keep myself holy. That means avoiding those conscious sins and asking God to reveal things in my life that are impure. It means going to God regularly and asking for His forgiveness and sanctification.

God also told the Israelites to “be ready.” As I read the passage, I was reminded of the night before a family vacation – we were to “be ready” to leave when we woke up (which was always at 4am because my dad was a truck drive and he wanted to do as much driving in the dark before the rest of the world woke up). That means we had our bags packed and our clothes laid out, but more than that, it meant that we were emotionally ready to jump out of bed and hit the road. And we were excited about it.

Being ready to meet with God is very similar – it means that we have an anticipation, a physical and emotional willingness to “move” when God says to move, and a spiritual openness to hear what He says. Perhaps most of all, it means that we are excited to hear from Him. God wants us to want Him. He responds to our openness to Him. The oft-quoted verse from Revelations is “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him and he with me.” (Revelations 3:20) Jesus is speaking to believers. He is saying that He won’t knock the door down, but he will knock. If we open the door, He comes in. He waits to be invited.

I want to live my life in the mode of making myself ready and anticipating God’s visit. Then when He knocks, I want to be there to say “Lord, I’m so glad you’re here. Welcome. Let’s share the day together. Make my heart your home today, Lord.”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009 at 9:20 am and is filed under Christian Living, God's ways, Hearing God, Intimacy with God, Passion for Christ, Reading through the Bible in a Year. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.