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BE THOU PREPARED

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 12, 1900

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 77, No. 24.

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“BE THOU PREPARED.”

By B. D. Gullett

B. D. GULLETT.
(Chapel Hill, N. C.)
Of Rehoboam the Word says, “And he did evil, because he prepared not his heart to seek the Lord.” A study of his record will show that he failed utterly. 2 Chronicles 12.
Not so with Jehoshaphat. We are at once struck with the contrast. To him the Lord’s prophet said: “There are good things found in thee, in that thou hast . . . prepared thine heart to seek God.”
The word “prepared,” as used in these texts, means set, or established. “For the Scriptural definition of ‘established’ we turn to Acts 16:5, where Luke says of the churches in Syria and Cilicia, “And so were the churches established in the faith,” which is equivalent to the statement, The churches were confirmed, or solidified, in the truth. In order to be established, belief is required; for, “If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established.” Isa. 7:9. And Jehoshaphat, in addressing the Israelites as they went forth to battle against the enemy “from beyond the sea on this side Syria,” said, “Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established.”
Evidently this belief consists in accepting and submitting to what God says; for Jehoshaphat “sought the Lord God of his father, and walked in his commandments.” He walked in righteousness; he believed God; he had the mind of Christ—was solidified in the faith. And in studying Jehoshaphat’s reign, it is found that, while his heart was established, he invariably gained victories over his enemies, and glorified God.
The requirement of the Christian in this day is that same perfection of heart that Jehoshaphat had. God’s commandments—the express perfection of his mind—have not changed. To accept and walk in them has the same significance as in days of old. As in that time, to forsake the law of the Lord and prepare not the heart could result only in failure, while to walk in his commandments assured success and victory, so it is with every one now. “Be thou prepared” (Eze. 38:7) is the injunction of God. “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him,” is the promise.
It now rests with each one to determine for himself whether he will be among those who draw back into perdition, which can only bring spiritual ruin and eternal loss, or whether he will accept the injunction, prepare his heart, and press forward to eternal life—the reward that God himself has placed at the goal, for those whose hearts are perfect toward him.
By the help of the Lord, our Creator and preserver, may we each be able to say: “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day.”