I went out to the barn today for the first time in quite a while.
I went out there because I needed to pray undisturbed, which is very hard to do in my house full of daughters and a husband who thinks of a million things he needs to get out of our bedroom the minute he realizes that I need to be alone in there. That’s just the way it goes, I suppose. So today, I trekked out to the barn so I could spend time with the Lord without the hovering anxiousness of potential interruption.
As soon as I got out there, I wanted to enter His presence, but the barn was a colossal mess. The horse was hungry, doors and windows were open that needed to be shut. Lead ropes and harnesses were all over the floor, which was covered in a year’s worth of barn dust and stray hay. I thought to myself, “I’ll tidy up this little thing and then I’ll pray.” But one little task led to another. The horse was adamant about being fed. The back pasture gates needed to be closed and the side gates opened. The stairs where I sit needed to be swept. Once I finished it all, I sat on the steps, my heart content that I was prepared to meet with the Lord.
And there’s a lesson in that for us. Quite often, we just want to immediately enter God’s presence and get down to business. We tend to forego any preparation to enter His presence. The ancient Israelites were given instructions by God Himself that consisted of elaborate preparations to just to enter His presence. He taught them the need to be mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and even physically prepared to meet with Him. He taught them the need for consideration and reverence when entering His presence. And today, I was reminded of that.
Through Christ, we have been given access to God in such a way that we may confidently approach the throne of grace to find help in time of need. We may meet with Him anywhere and at any time. He is ever present to hear our cries and consider our prayers. But we seem to have lost sight of our need for preparation to be able to hear His response. We seem to have lost sight of the conditions of the place where we truly meet God, which is somewhere between our personal accountability towards His holiness and our being perpetual recipients of His grace.
Today, may we remember, consider, and reflect upon His holiness and our need for preparation to enter that holiness.
(Ex 19:9-11) The LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I will come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people will hear when I speak with you, and they will always put their trust in you.” And Moses relayed to the LORD what the people had said. Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. They must wash their clothes and be prepared by the third day, for on the third day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.
(Rev 7:13-15) Then one of the elders addressed me: “These in white robes,” he asked, “who are they, and where have they come from?” “Sir,” I answered, “you know.” So he replied, “These are the ones who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. For this reason, they are before the throne of God and serve Him day and night in His temple; and the One seated on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them.
(Rev 22:14) Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by its gates.
