5 OG PREPPERS FROM THE BIBLE

GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD

I mentioned in a previous article how Jesus tells us not to be anxious, and to trust the Lord for all our daily provision. An example of how this is illustrated in the Bible is the gift of manna to the Israelites in the desert. You could not get a more overt example of the Lord providing for His people in need, literally dropping food miraculously from the heavens.

However, the Israelites were instructed to only collect the manna needed for one day’s worth of eating, except in preparation for the Sabbath. Anything they gathered and saved beyond that spoiled and became infested with worms. They were being taught to trust the Lord at His word, and have faith beyond the human impulse to hoard.

While this message about faith in God’s provision is direct, what it’s not saying is that we shouldn’t plan for things in the future. Proverbs says:

That last one there sums it up - let us make plans, knowing that those plans are directed by God.

The Bible has many stories about His people making plans and strategies- those directed by God, and those of human desire...you can see how each respectively turn out.

Here’s a short list of key characters in the Bible when it comes to prepping - both externally and internally:

1. NOAH: THE BUG OUT PLANNER (Genesis 6-9)

We all know the story - God told Noah to build a big boat in preparation for a rainstorm that seemed nonsensical. God even gave Noah very specific directions - the dimensions and materials - as to how to build the ark and what to do with it. It’s also interesting to point out that God instructed Noah as to when to get off the ark. I’m sure Noah and all the animals were antsy to disembark, but Noah waited until God gave a sign and His word that they were to exit the craft. Noah received salvation from the floods through his faith, and God’s blessing for following orders. How might God be giving us instructions today for us to heed, even if they sound bananas, as to how to prepare for the metaphorical floods ahead of us?

Interestingly, when Jesus talks about the signs of the end times and the his return, one of the signs he gives is that things in the world will be as they were “in the days of Noah”:

So Noah’s account of the benefits of preparedness is in itself a way for us to know how and even when to be prepared. Of course, you could argue that things in the world have been as messy as they were in the days of Noah for a very long time, so how is that a very clear sign? Well ok, then it simply means: just be prepared, like, always.

2. JOSEPH: THE STOCKER (Genesis 40-45)

Joseph was blessed by God to interpret a dream the Pharaoh had that warned of an upcoming famine. Through the dream, Joseph told Pharaoh exactly how much food to store up to supply for the nation during the famine. Pharaoh was so impressed that he appointed Joseph to oversee this prepping project. This came in handy when Joseph’s own family needed food and traveled to Egypt to obtain it, hearing word that there was a reserve there. Joseph was able to provide for his family and an entire city because he was a man of God and kept his faith strong, even after being sold into slavery by his brothers, and being kept in prison for years.

This brings up another crucial point about preparedness: never give up hope. If Joseph believed that his life was over when he was brought to Egypt as a slave, framed unjustly by Potifer’s wife, or if he succumbed to despair when he was in prison, he would not have been available and fit to serve the role he did. I can’t imagine the betrayal he must have felt, and the suffering of being a prisoner in what the Bible describes as a pit. Yet he rose up to not only have one of the most powerful, prominent positions in the most robust civilization at the time, but he was able to help thousands of people, and show mercy, forgiveness, and God’s love to his family.

3. GIDEON: THE STRATEGIZER (Judges 6 &7)

When Gideon was called by God to do what seemed like an impossible task of rising up against the Mideonites and freeing the Israelites, he wanted to make sure this was really a calling from the Lord, and so he set up a “test” with a fleece, which could only render results supernaturally.

Some may say this was because of his lack of faith, but this test came after he already witnessed an angel of the Lord consume his offering right before his eyes, and after he followed God’s command to destroy the altars of Baal - a gutsy move. I think perhaps the fleece test was out of humility, because these are two events that could make someone feel quite special and overly confident in themselves. But the fleece test proved to Gideon that the Lord was behind this calling, not just his ego or fervor.

When Gideon was preparing his army to go against Midian, the Lord told him he had to lessen his number of warriors - this time God setting up a bit of a test: depending on how the men drank water from a river, they either remained in the army, or were sent home. The Lord was running a type of “equipment test” to see which warriors were right for this particular job.

Further strategy was used when Gideon went down into the enemy camp and eavesdropped on them to gather intel. This gave him the assurance needed to carry out a brilliant plan: seeing as how they had far less men than the Midian army, the normal way of going about a battle would have been a suicide. But they utilized commonplace tools at hand - torches, jars and trumpets - and presented themselves theatrically in such a way that took the Midians by surprise and caused them to flee. Very resourceful and creative: key components to preparedness.

Gideon’s takeaways are:

• Run tests: know how things work, run drills, get a map of the territory.

• Suss out your best team with whom to prepare - quality not quantity.

• Gather intel.

• Be creative and resourceful with what you have at hand.

• Discern that the Lord is in support of your efforts.

4. JOHN THE BAPTIST: THE ALARM SOUNDER

We touched a bit on mental preparedness with Joseph - not giving up hope, but maintaining an internal tenacity to keep your spirits up in a challenging situation.

The Gospels tell us that John’s ministry was prophesied by Isaiah many long before:

In my Bible (ESV) there are headings to chapters, and chapter 3 of Luke says, “John the Baptist Prepares the Way.” His prepping had to do with spiritual preparedness - both inner and outer. The inner is making that path straight to our hearts, so that He can connect directly to us, without wandering or interference, and the outer is a behavioral change - a repentance and turning away from previous behavior that would hinder the straightness of the Way to Christ, and likewise Christ to us; the Way is a two way street.

In Luke 3, John explains why this baptism means and folk from the crowd ask him specifically what they can do to prepare. John gives different prepper instructions depending on the inquirer and their individual crookedness.

Oh and by the way, John perfectly fits the description of our cliche crazy prepper: living out in the wilderness, wearing animal fur and eating insects and foraged food, calling the powers-that-be vipers. He would def be labeled a conspiracy theorist and cancelled from social media. This dude is legit.

5. JESUS: THE RABBI WITH REVELATION

Jesus is of course the ultimate prepper - preparing us for eternity. His parables and prophecies give us stories and signs as to how to ready ourselves spiritually for our existence with the Heavenly Father. The salvation we gain as a result of his death and resurrection = ultimate prepper tool, removing that which would bar our access; The Holy Spirit = ultimate intel and line of communication; The Bread of Life/ The Living Water = ultimate food supply.

One of the most obvious examples of Jesus’s emphasis on preparedness is the parable of the 10 virgins:

The last sentence there sums up why we should prepare for anything that might come our way in life: we don’t know when something might go down and we don’t want to be caught “without oil”, so be prepared. This surely applies to physical, worldly preparedness as well as spiritual, but of course Jesus tells us that the most important thing to be ready for is the final judgement:

Indeed, what good does it do to know your way to your bug-out location, yet not know your way to The Father? You can’t hide in your bunker from the Great Tribulation.

Prepare the Way of the Lord!