It pleased God…to display His free and sovereign mercy in the conversion of a great multitude of souls in a short space of time, turning them from a formal, cold, and careless profession of Christianity, to the lively exercise of every Christian grace, and the powerful practice of our holy religion. Those words, spoken by a young preacher boy, Jonathan Edwards, give us one of the clearest definitions of revival as we will ever get. Pastor Edwards would ignite the first of many revival fires that would lead America to spiritual awakening, as he would see his small town of Northampton, Massachusetts, experience the presence and power of God. Three hundred people would be converted in a three-month period, in a town of 1,100 people. America would develop a rich history of revival and awakenings, times of sudden, intense enthusiasm for the things of God, moments in history when conviction, repentance, and a thirst for the Word of God were commonplace. Oh, to have lived through one of those times of revival!
Our local church held revival services recently. As I look at the spiritual condition of our country, my flesh wonders if revival is even possible. When I read the Bible depiction of last days, “For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good…lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God,” I feel as though we have already reached those benchmarks in our culture. How could God possibly work in hearts that have grown so cold and rebellious, in a world that has become so dark, a world that has deliberately pushed Him away?
It is then that I am reminded that one of the greatest Old Testament revivals took place in the waning days of the nation of Judah. Her sister nation, Israel, had already been taken into captivity due to their disobedience and their unwillingness to repent. The same fate was on the horizon for Judah and the proclamation of judgment had already been made when young King Josiah arrives on the scene. But in those darkest of days, a man with a tender heart would rise to bring true faith and worship back to the land. Revival came because one young man “began to seek after the God of David his father.”
I can’t revive a country, but I can pray that God will revive ME. I don’t want to be formal, cold, and careless anymore, so I pray that He sets my soul afire for Him.
Psalm 85:6 Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee.
Lord, work in our nation again; bring us to revival and begin the work in my heart.