There is a lot going on in our culture about prepping for “doomsday.” Some fear catastrophic earthquakes, government collapse, economic disasters or some other event that would throw society into chaos and produce anarchy.

People are building steel bunkers, storing food and arming themselves to resist hungry and desperate raiders . . . all in the name of survival.

The threat of coming disaster is real. There is always the possibility of foreign invasion, which has happened to numerous countries with resultant deprivation, death and enslavement. There is also the real possibility of economic collapse. That has happened in America before. There is also the possibility of a natural disaster: volcano, earthquake, hurricane, flood, etc.

Is it wrong to be prepared? No, the Scriptures teach us to study the lowly ant to be instructed in preparedness. In Proverbs 6:6-8, we read, “Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise, which having no captain, overseer or ruler, provides her supplies in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest.” The ants wisely work and store when they can to care for a future time when they have a need.

Let us assume we are acting wisely and are preparing ourselves for some catastrophic event in the future. We have some food, some type of shelter that will withstand a storm or other form of devastation and are ready for about anything.

We cannot leave God out of the equation. All our preparedness must be balanced with basic Christian principles. Jeremiah the prophet frames this for us in Jeremiah 17:5: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man (or himself) and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord.”

God is sovereign and God is good. He has not and is not leaving the scene. God is in control.

Another Bible principle to help us sort through all this doomsday thinking is 1 John 3:17: “Whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?”

We cannot selfishly sequester ourselves in some iron bunker immersed in supplies, safety and security and not think of others. We do have responsibility to our family first, other believers second and the world at large next.

What do we do? Prepare however you feel led, all the while declaring and demonstrating your trust in God by continuing to share, and being willing to share whatever you have stored up with those in need. If God could feed his people in the wilderness for 40 years with manna from heaven and give them water from a rock when they needed it, he can certainly sustain us through whatever He allows to come our way.

In Jeremiah 17:6, we see the result of self-seeking: “He shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when good comes, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land which is not inhabited.” In Jeremiah 17:8, we see what God will do for the one who trusts him: “He shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river and will not fear when heat comes: but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought.”

What about trusting God? We can and should because he is faithful!