The day of the Lord will come like a thief.  The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.                                                                              2 Peter 3:10

No matter how prepared we might be, it will still sneak up on us.  This is not new. I mentioned Haiti before.  I’ve known people who heard about the heat and tried various ways to prepare their minds and bodies for it before going down there. Then they get there and find they aren’t any more prepared for it.  It is hot.  I mean really hot.  The humidity can’t even be described.  You can try and be prepared.  You can know that it is coming and still not be really ready.

That’s how the Day of the Lord will be.  We will prepare, and yet be unprepared in so many ways.

What shall we do to be more ready, what should we consider in light of this truth?

Don’t leave anything undone, and certainly don’t leave anything in the closet or under the rug! Here’s the reality: all that you hide so fastidiously here on earth is going to be “laid bare” in eternity.  There will be nothing of all that you work so hard to hide that God will not reveal and redeem on that day.

So if it is all going to end up ‘on the table’ then, why not go ahead and lay it on the table now?  There is nothing hidden from the Lord.  We know this.  So if we are hiding things now, it isn’t from Him.  It’s from ourselves and others.  It’s all going on the table.  It will be laid bare. Sprawled out for all the world to see.  That sin you tuck away, that life you wish you could run from, that desire you are mastering to suppress, all of it, all laid bare.

There is much beauty in the Lord, from the things that we see to the things that we become to how He makes all that possible.  Here is something beautiful: He can take that which you despise and make it lovely.  He can take your hurt and your sin, your past and your future, your lies and you treachery, your life and your witness.  He can take it all and make it something beautiful.

I had a sweet family of friends many years ago.  They lost their oldest daughter in a tragic and gruesome crime.  Over the years that followed her death, they kept getting more details of what had happened to her, every one more harsh and painful than the last.  The mother was a bit quiet, not one for the spotlight. They loved the Lord and still do.  They didn’t ‘deserve’ this tragedy, but God let it transpire.  That quiet mom found her voice.  People came to her and her husband from all corners of life.  They had hurt too, they had ached and doubted and cried. How could you survive it together and with your faith intact?  They had the answers.  Thousands of people had a hand to hold in their hurt because this family took their pain, laid out their horror story, and let God make it beautiful.

But you have to be willing to lay it on the table.

In the end, it’s where it all ends up, but if we are willing to lay it out there now, He can use it.  He can transform it and mold it and wrap it up in light and perfection and purpose and make it of great value for His eternal purposes.  My God doesn’t waste anything.  He doesn’t waste opportunities or time, He doesn’t waste tears, heartaches or sin, He doesn’t waste any experience you have dragged yourself through.  He can use it.  Someone has been where you were. Someone needs to know how you got out of the boat they are now in.  Someone needs to hear that they aren’t the only ones on this ledge.  God can make use of every thing you lay before Him, your good, your bad, your private, your well-known.  There is value in the experiences of our lives and it can all be used for His glory.

But you have to be willing to lay it on the table.