(Previous –> Houston, We Have a Problem – Part 2)
Will You not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You?
Psalm 85:6
In the aftermath of September 11th, I recall talking with my pastor about whether or not revival would finally come to the United States. Counting on God’s promise to work all things together for good, my hope was that those tragic events would be the spark that ignited true revival in this country, that they would serve as the catalyst which turned our hearts back to God.
Throughout the weeks that followed it certainly seemed like the climate was right for revival. Spontaneous mid-week prayer meetings lifted up pleas for revival, President Bush called for a National Day of Prayer, and Christian broadcasts implored God to revive this country, to bring another “Great Awakening.” Charitable giving was at record levels and church attendance surged as believers and skeptics alike sought desperately for answers and assurance…even if their paths led them to God. From my estimation, revival seemed imminent, almost inevitable; nevertheless, my pastor’s assessment was that revival was “unlikely.” Looking back, it is clear that he was sadly vindicated.
What is truly mind boggling, though, is how quickly we all got back to “normal.” Remember how flags seemed to spring up like mushrooms after 9/11? Within days of the attacks the “Stars and
Stripes” were flying from each home and every vehicle imaginable. Patriotism became contagious as the nation rallied around our flag, yet by December 11th it was a challenge to find more than a handful of homes still flying one.
And what about all the seekers who had streamed into churches in the weeks following September 11th? Unfortunately, they had become as rare as the flags. In fact, noted pollster George Barna conducted a survey that took the spiritual pulse of the nation less than three months after the attacks.1 He discovered that church attendance was dropping fast, and correctly predicted that numbers would return to September 10th levels within one month of the survey—just four months removed. In a nutshell, he concluded that September 11th was a spiritual non-event:
“When we looked at other kinds of indicators—whether we’re talking about how people describe themselves, the other kinds of religious activities they’re involved in, and some of their core spiritual beliefs—we found that there has really been no change whatsoever that’s taken place.”
George Barna – November 2001
Are you kidding me? No change whatsoever? Given the magnitude of what happened on that fateful day, how those events altered the course of history and of nations, it seems incomprehensible that we emerged spiritually unchanged. Some kind of change, even a small one, seemed unavoidable. But no change at all?
And since September 11th, The Purpose Driven Life2 tapped into this country’s latent spiritual hunger as it sat atop the best seller list for months. It likewise set off sparks of revival in hearts across America, but by all indications we are still waiting. Something is continuing to restrain God’s hand; something is prompting Him to hold back His Spirit.
The Heart of Revival
So what exactly is revival? As a child, revival meant little more to me than special services once a year when an “evangelist” came to preach. If nothing else it was nice to have a change of pace for the Sunday sermon, and even today there is a residual part of my psyche that equates “revival” with superficial emotionalism. Genuine revival, though, involves much more than responding to
an altar call.
Basically, revival refers to a time of profound, spiritual renewal that is grounded in the personal commitment of individuals to get right with God—particularly for those who are already believers. Its hallmark is an outpouring of God’s Spirit, whereby those who have rededicated themselves to the Lord are spiritually refreshed and energized. At a personal level, then, revival is the deeper fellowship with God that we experience when we repent of the sin in our lives.
When used in a broader context, though, revival typically implies a movement of God’s Spirit that happens on a large scale, especially at a regional or national level. We see examples of this phenomenon in the Old Testament during the reigns of Hezekiah and Josiah, and later under the leadership of Ezra. In each instance, the people were convicted of their wayward tendencies through the clear proclamation of the Law—God’s word—and they responded in repentance.
This brings us to another important aspect of revival that is contained in God’s promise to Solomon as he dedicates the Temple. For God tells Solomon that the nation will not only be spiritually restored, but also physically healed through times of national revival:
Then the Lord appeared to Solomon by night, and said to him:
“I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
2 Chronicles 7:12-14 (NKJV)
Here we find a blueprint for revival, and it should be clear that it’s not enough for those who are called by God’s name to pray and seek His blessing; neither is it enough for us to humbly confess and lament of our sin. In order for revival to occur, those called by God’s name—His elect—must turn from their own ways and turn back to Him: it’s contingent upon repentance. Then and only then does God promise to remove His curse from the people as well as their land. Contrition is the key:
For this is what the high and lofty One says—He who lives forever, whose name is Holy:
“I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.”
Isaiah 57:15
Thus, we see that revival is not so much something that happens to us, but rather results from a change of heart within us. It is a process that always follows the same pattern:
- God works through our circumstances and/or external events to remind us of our utter dependence upon Him,
When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command
the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My
people - Which prompts us to pray and seek Him out,
…if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves,
and pray and seek My face - Then, if we respond in repentance,
…and turn from their wicked ways - God promises to revive our spirits, granting peace to our hearts as He pardons our sin.
…then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin - Oh yeah, then there’s that promise to remove His curse from the
nation:
…and heal their land.
And doesn’t this make perfect sense? Since we know that sin impedes our relationship with God, it stands to reason that fellowship with Him can only be restored as we repent of our sin. Repentance and revival go hand-in-hand, and only after God’s people respond in repentance does He promise to heal the nation.
It must be emphasized, though, that genuine repentance is always grounded in contrition and remorse over sin, not merely a desire for a reprieve from our circumstances. The former honors God while the latter insults Him, and we must diligently reject any notion that the fruits of revival—like the healing of the land—are something that God’s people somehow “deserve” on account of their repentance. In other words, God does not supernaturally heal the land because His favor has been earned; rather, He is pleased to remove the curse from His children who have returned to Him in faith.
Moreover, while we typically think of revival as a widespread phenomenon, it nonetheless starts in the hearts of individuals who resolve to get right with God. This means that the extent of any
corporate revival is dependent upon the proportion of God’s people who respond in repentance to the convicting work of the Holy Spirit. Or to put it another way, we are able to identify great periods of revival only because the vast majority of those called by God’s name have turned back to Him with all of their heart.
So all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered at Jerusalem within three days. It was the ninth month, on the twentieth of the month; and all the people sat in the open square of the house of God, trembling because of this matter and because of heavy rain.
Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, “You have transgressed and have taken pagan wives, adding to the guilt of Israel. Now therefore, make confession to the Lord God of your fathers, and do His will; separate yourselves from the peoples of the land, and from the pagan wives.”
Then all the assembly answered and said with a loud voice, “Yes! As you have said, so we must do.”
Ezra 10:9-12 (NKJV)
On the other hand, if only a fraction of God’s people “turn from their wicked ways,” then the effects of revival are likewise limited. It’s not that those who turn back to God are not personally renewed and strengthened, but rather that their light continues to be overwhelmed by the spiritual darkness of those who stubbornly resist God’s Spirit. In other words, the impenitence of the majority effectively perpetuates the spiritual status quo, thereby forfeiting the healing which God has promised to give to the nation.
The LORD’s anger was aroused that day and he swore this oath: ‘Because they have not followed me wholeheartedly, not one of the men twenty years old or more who came up out of Egypt will see the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – not one except Caleb son of
Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua son of Nun, for they followed the LORD wholeheartedly.’
The LORD’s anger burned against Israel and he made them wander in the desert forty years, until the whole generation of those who had done evil in his sight was gone.
Numbers 32:10-13
In short, national revival—and the healing that flows from it—cannot happen apart from national repentance.
On The “Broad Way”
So for a moment, let’s consider what transpired in the wake of the terrorist attacks in September 2001. There was certainly no shortage of pleas for national revival in the days that followed, and yet revival did not come. This reality underscores two critical issues:
- First, when we prayed for revival, what were we really praying for? Were we grieved by our sin? Were we longing for the renewed presence of God’s Spirit in our lives, or was our primary desire for God to “heal our land” and defend us from our enemies? Were we humbly seeking God’s face, looking for restored fellowship with our Lord, or were we mainly interested in the benefits that flow out of authentic revival? The answers to these questions reveal the true inclination of our hearts, and while we may be able to fool ourselves and even others, rest assured we aren’t fooling God.
- Second, what should we make of the peace and security that have been restored to the United States after the horror of September 11th? For since our nation has been spared further devastation, arguably “healed” at least in part, can we therefore conclude that revival happened after all?
At this point, we must be careful not to equate blessing with revival, because although revival certainly releases God’s healing mercy, He often pours out blessings for reasons that have nothing to do with revival. Just consider how God exalted the pagan empires of Assyria, Babylon, and Persia! So even though God has seen fit to prevent subsequent attacks on our soil, we cannot simply deduce that revival was the cause.
In fact, we could speculate endlessly on the reasons why God chose to answer our prayers for deliverance, but revival is one we can rule out with a high degree of certainty. Why? Because deep
repentance, a spiritual “about face,” is the one characteristic that is fundamental to genuine revival. It’s not enough to recognize and lament of our sin, we must also turn from it. The real question, then, is whether or not we find any evidence of a change in our spiritual course.
Not according to George Barna. For although September 11th initially seemed to change this nation’s spiritual direction, it ultimately proved to be nothing more than a bump in the road. It slowed us down just long enough to make us think, but in the end there was “no change whatsoever.” And so the question that demands an answer is simply this: if we are still heading down the same path that we were following prior to September 11th, where was that path leading us? For as Jesus makes clear, there are only two options:
Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
Matthew 7:13-14 (NKJV)
So were we—as a nation—already on the narrow path prior to 9/11? Were we following the path that leads to life? If so, then we shouldn’t be the least bit alarmed by Barna’s conclusion—in fact,
we should rejoice that nothing changed! But if this nation remains upon a course that is leading us away from God, a path that inevitably leads to destruction, then we’ve got big problems.
Unfortunately, the evidence isn’t exactly stacked in our favor.
(Next–> One Nation…Under God?)
- “Barna Update,” The Barna Group November 26, 2001, January
2008, http://www.barna.org. ↩︎ - Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life (Zondervan, 2002). ↩︎
Socratic Christianity 