When you're looking for something, it generally helps to know something about what you're looking for. If I'm looking for someone, then I need to know what they look like or what they will be wearing that will distinguish them from everyone else. Can this be said of a revival? The answer is yes. I will be looking at those over the next few days. Today we will start with the soverignty of God.
Man does not choose when and how a rivival happens. I am not discounting how God calls us to co-labour with Him - that will be dealt with in another devotional. It's God who chooses. The Bible says "when the fullness of time had come, God sent for His Son" (Gal. 4:4) and it wasn't a moment sooner or later. The Jewish religious leaders at the time of the birth of the Church recognized Peter and John as being "uneducated and untrained men" (Acts 4:13) according to their standards.
Historically, revivals have seldom, if ever, fit within expectations. Jonathan Edwards (a key figure in the First Great Awakening in the U.S.) wrote "A Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Work of God" concerning the revival in Northampton, Mass. in 1736. In it he recounts different surprises at how God chose to work through different and in different ways than he would have expected. He was particularly surprised by how God used a woman "who had been one of the greatest company-keepers in the whole town." He never thought she had any interest in living a Christian life in close relationship with God but the Holy Spirit got ahold of her and she was a catalyst in many lives for giving themselves wholy to God. The Welsh Revival was instigated through many young people, with Evan Roberts being only in his early 20s, and many older ministers came to try to bring order and stature to it but were overwhelmed by the presence of God at work.
Time is in God's hands and so is timing. Jesus told the disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the promised baptism of the Holy Spirit (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4-8). In the same passage in Acts 1, the disciples ask Jesus when God would "restore the kingdom to Israel" but Jesus said, "It is not for you to know time or seasons which teh Father has put in His own authority" (v. 7). They did not know when the Holy Spirit would baptize them. It's possible that some were not in the house when the Holy Spirit came. Those who followed Jesus' instructions to wait and were in the house were the ones who received the promise. If we are to be part of the next revival, then we simply have to follow God's leading and be there when He chooses to do it.
Trust in the sovereignty of God. Trust in His timing. Trust in His goodness, grace and mercy. Trust Him. He fulfills His promises.
Blessings,
Merril
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