Prepping for "The Day of Disaster"
Prepping for "The Day of Disaster"
The Bible's Take on Doomsday Preps
When it comes to disaster preparedness, it's no longer the domain of the weird uncle with a fallout bunker during the Cold War.
Today the rich have realized society could collapse at a moment's notice and have invested a portion of their assets in farmland, bunkers with luxurious amenities, and stockpiled gas masks and guns to go with it.
On the other end of the spectrum, a cottage industry of average folk has popped up called "preppers" who have a set of "preps" for the day things collapse and entire stores developed to help them prep.
I, with extreme delight, enjoy watching the YouTube channels of these doom-and-gloom preppers. They at least seem to see that "the world in its present form" is headed for destruction and is "passing away" (1 Cor 7). It's a pretty good bet, after all, in a world of sin and a God who will one day remember the sins of this world.
The Bible as it were, concurs with preparedness for practical issues in life. A smattering is:
"But this is gain for a land in every way: a king committed to cultivated fields."
Ecclesiastes 5:9
Go to the ant, O sluggard;
consider her ways, and be wise.
Without having any chief,
officer, or ruler,
she prepares her bread in summer
and gathers her food in harvest.
How long will you lie there, O sluggard?
When will you arise from your sleep?
A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest,
and poverty will come upon you like a robber,
and want like an armed man.
Proverbs 6:6-8
In the morning sow your seed, and at evening withhold not your hand, for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good.
Ecclesiastes 11:6
Cast your bread upon the waters,
for you will find it after many days.
Give a portion to seven, or even to eight,
for you know not what disaster may happen on earth.
Ecclesiastes 11:1-2
...And many other passages like it. But where I diverge from these preppers is what sort of preps are going to assist on the day of disaster.
But the problem is that for most of human history, there was not a Pax Romana, or Pax USA. No peaceful complacency. Cultures lived in a state of preparation for invaders by building walls, stockpiling food, and many other "preps." But these cultures were destroyed not for lack of practical prepping, but because they placed their trust in their preps, their wisdom, and their abilities and did not trust the Lord.
The Lord has a cautionary word to all Preppers everywhere in every age:
"Unless the Lord builds the house,
those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
the watchman stays awake in vain."
Psalm 127:1
Truly riches, and for preppers, "preps," do not deliver on the day of disaster:
"Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death."
Proverbs 11:4
Ultimately God makes fools of wise men when they reject the well and source of wisdom, God himself. All their preps are wood for the fire if God is not the central "prep" and obedience to his word is the greatest protection.
This is not an encouragement not to prep, or that preps are worthless. I hope that the first part of the article detailing the Bible's commendation of preparedness is evidence of this, only that such practical preparations only go so far. Some disasters are God-appointed events to destroy those who do not follow him. On that day, the people that God preserves are hand-picked, and that's the only prep that will get anywhere.
So prep. Prep with having some non-perishable food, a garden, have the ability to survive the collapse of society. The Bible agrees this is wise.
But don't neglect the prep of your soul. Make sure the gates of your heart are barred, the walls of your obedience to God's word firm, and your weapon of the word of God memorized sharp. Make sure that the "Dread Warrior" - YHWH - is at peace with you in his Son's atonement on the cross, or you might be prepping for a more sure destruction on the day of disaster.
Nate
S.D.G.