In Luke 22:36 the Lord told the disciples to prepare themselves for their upcoming life in ministry. Also, in Matthew 24: 15-25 Israel is warned how to respond to coming dangers at the Mid Tribulation point. What I have not been able to find is any reason for the church to stock up and prepare, beyond a reasonable amount, for difficult times we may endure before the rapture. Wouldn’t Jesus have warned us as well if this is the case? Am I just missing it or is “prepping” actually a lack of faith in the Lord’s ability to protect and provide for his children?
Like you, I haven’t found any Biblical support for what’s being called “prepping”. On the contrary, the Bible repeatedly calls on us to be generous in sharing what we have (2 Cor. 9:6), and not to worry about tomorrow, but to trust in the Lord for our provision (Matt. 6:31-33). Rather than storing up excess here on Earth we’re to exchange it for “treasure in Heaven” (Matt. 6:19-21). And remember, when these things were written discretionary income was nearly unheard of. Most people struggled just to get by.
Rather than calling it a lack of faith, I think of prepping as a human reaction to an uncertain future borne of our need for self-reliance. If we were only looking toward a temporary time of difficulty it would be more understandable, but the way I understand it when things start to really go bad they will never get better.
Learning to live by faith takes some time, so the best way to prepare for hard times is to start practicing before it becomes necessary. And truth be told, living by faith is something we should have been doing all along.