“And I have this day declared it to you, but you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord your God…” Jeremiah 42:21

Revival

I remember days of long ago when I sat in a little country church during what was called Revival. Ladies fanned themselves with cardboard fans on wooden sticks with funeral home advertising on the back of them and some pastoral scene on the front. Men wore white shirts under their overalls and smelled of tobacco and shaving lotion.

An out of town preacher came to the church who preached every night for a week. He banged the pulpit with his fists. He hollered and he preached his heart out. He preached hellfire and brimstone. He declared the holiness of God Almighty and described in vivid detail the sin and desperate condition of the human heart. He pleaded for repentance. He didn’t make it easy on the poor sinner. No slipping up of a hand with every head bowed and every eye closed. Oh no, get up and walk that aisle and kneel at the altar for prayer and find here, in humility, the grace of God who alone can save. Lives were forever changed night after night.

We don’t do things like that anymore and I am not saying it was right or wrong, only that for some that’s how it happened that they came to know the living God. I know it certainly made an impression on me! Not only the holy fear it instilled, but the joy I saw on the tear stained faces of those willing to come to that lowly altar and kneel before God.

In Jeremiah 42, Israel displays the insidious sin of following the dictates of their own heart. Refusing the Word and will of God is so deeply entrenched that even after seeing Jeremiah’s prophecies fulfilled, they continue in abject rebellion. Listen to their words: “…we will not listen to you! But we will certainly do whatever has gone out of our own mouth…” (Jeremiah 44:16, 17).

The contrast is striking. There is much of this in the church of the here and now. We come to church on Sunday morning and worship in song and hear God’s word. We go home and do as we please. We listen, but we do not hear. There are unmarried couples living together who see nothing wrong with what they are doing despite the clear instruction of Scripture. And there are others who abuse this chemical or that drug or drink to excess. There are those that cheat and steal in business. Where is conviction of sin and desperation for God? I do not wish to be a sin sniffer or an accuser of the brethren, but wrong is still wrong. Where is the radical change, the holy metamorphosis God calls us to? Jesus said, “But why do you call Me Lord, Lord, and not do the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).

I am but a sinner saved by His marvelous grace. I have contributed my share of wrongdoing, offered up my lame excuses and rationalizations. God sees right through me. Let us choose a highway of holiness. Let us please God with not only words but acts and deeds of righteousness. Let us worship Him in spirit and in truth. Let us find our lowly altar and kneel before Him.

“For thus says the High and Lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: ‘I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones’” (Isaiah 57:15).

“Father, Your heart is for us. You have made a way where there was no way. When we fail and falter, You are the grace and forgiveness we need. Holy Spirit, teach us holy ways. Jesus, You are our salvation. Revive us again! Amen.”