God is a God who prepares ahead of time. Before Adam took a single breath, God had prepared the entire world for him. The food he would eat, the places he would sleep, the sun for his body, and the water that he would drink (Gen 1:1-24). Not only did God prepare, but God’s preparation was nothing less than perfect. He carefully thought out every detail of His creation. For example, on a larger scale, if He were to adjust the earth a few meters away from the Sun, Adam would freeze to death; bring it a little closer, and he would burn to death. He created the world to be the perfect size so that gravity would not crush Adam.
God is a God that prepares and His preparation is nothing short of perfection. Through His preparation, we see His wisdom and great power.
However, God does not need to prepare. He is Almighty and one word from Him is more than enough. He could have quickly said the word and the world would have been made. But He didn’t. Instead He intentionally spent 6 days. Instead of creating the world black and white, He created the world vibrant with colours. He grew different trees with different fruits, different parts of the world with different sceneries, and the list can go on. But when we stop to think, why does God prepare? Preparation means taking more time and effort in advance, but God—the all powerful God—does not need to, so why does He do these things anyway?
Preparation is a hidden expression of love. Preparations are often unseen, in the background, but require the most thought. Take for example, when a baby is still in the womb, the parents would have prepared the baby’s room, what colour to paint, what bed for the baby to sleep in, that diaper sizes are checked and bought, and that photo frames and cameras are all ready. This preparation is unseen to the child, but it comes from the love of the parents. So why did God prepare the world so wonderfully for us? Because He loves us.
Among all the things that God prepared for mankind, the greatest gift is the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. God prepared for our salvation through Jesus Christ before time began (Eph 1:3-5). In the background of all the events in the Old Testament was God’s preparation for the coming of His Son. We see this most clearly in Jesus’ genealogy. Among all the family trees in the world, God especially preserved one line that would one day fulfill His will, when the Word became flesh. The people in His family tree went through several famines, wars, slavery, and exiles, and yet the family tree was preserved. It is no accident that there were 14 generations from Abraham to David, and another 14 generations from David to the Exile period, and yet another 14 generations from the Exile period to the birth of Christ (Mat 1:1-17). On top of this miracle, God had long planned for John the Baptist to be born before Jesus, so that he could prepare the way for Christ; He prepared Mary and Joseph through divine intervention so that they could receive His coming. Among all the things that God had prepared for, He prepared the most for Christ. Because through Christ, He will show the greatest love towards us.
1 Cor 2:9 says: However, as it is written: “what no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived” the things God has prepared for those who love him
The goodness of what God has prepared for us is beyond our ability to comprehend through seeing, hearing, and understanding. And the most wonderful gift God has prepared for us before time began is Himself (John 15:13). He prepared salvation before the world was made so that mankind can be reconciled with Him, to have the opportunity to draw close to Him and to receive His unsurpassed grace. Therefore, it is only when we abide in Him, and He in us, that we can experience true joy, peace, and strength (John 4:10). Then our life would stop being about pursuing blessings, but rather blessings would surround our life.
Since God’s unending love is manifested to us through His perfect preparation, we too can show God our love through our preparation. From small things such as preparing a reverent heart for Sabbath day worship, preparing ourselves before we kneel down to speak to Him, and preparing ahead of time when we serve. All these quiet preparations are unseen by men, but seen by God, and loved by God.
