The Key to Revival is Returning
There is a buzz about revival happening at Asbury, a college in Kentucky. Around 50 years ago, this same college had a similar occurrence. Believers are visiting the college to see firsthand what is happening and sharing it online via social media. And what are they finding? Simply prayer and worship that hasn't stopped since last week - no frills, no lights, no production meeting or plan.
Within the Old Testament are words from the minor prophets. While they may be smaller in pages and prestige, they are anything but in their content. I see in their verses a picture of myself and how time and again, I choose to place other people and things above God. The pleas of these minor prophets are to return, keep returning, and return once more!
And that returning? I think the key to revival for all of us.
The prophets urged their audiences, and us still today, to return to the Lord. We will want to get defensive. We will want to pull away. For this plea to put the Lord above and over all things is a call to give up control, to give up our plans, to give up our desires. It's a call to return to the Lord and pick up the cross of Christ. It's a call to allow ourselves to be willing and able to let Him revive our hearts, minds, and souls and allow the Holy Spirit to fan that flame.
And perhaps watch that flame catch within others.
So, back to the prophets. What do they say about returning?
Hosea
Hosea, meaning salvation, was written to show us God's love for His sinful people. We may be familiar with the story of Hosea and Gomer (the prostitute he was to take as his wife), but keep going beyond that storyline and we see even more ways in which God's people turn away from Him, and what awaits them because of that decision.
During Hosea's time, people were ruled under wicked kings, heavily taxed, and worshipping idols. The poor were oppressed, along with a total disregard for God. Hosea begins with teaching that justice would come and ends with telling of the blessings that come with repentance.
Joel
The book of Joel (Yahweh is God) gives warning of God's impending judgment and a plea for the people to return to the Lord.
The times of Joel? Kings (and a Queen) power hungry and lacking spiritual guidance. At the start, a plague of locusts come and go, only to come back again. Joel urges the people to grieve over their sin, repent and lament, and then do it again. It ends with a promise of restoration and justification, but not without God's judgment.
Amos
Amos may come from the Hebrew word meaning "to carry." His words written to announce God's judgment, as the people had become complacent, were (still) worshipping idols and were (still) oppressing the poor.
Israel was enjoying peace and prosperity at this time, yet the people had grown selfish and materialistic. There were the very rich and the very poor, with the former ignoring the latter. The people were self-centered and indifferent towards God. Amos listed out the sins and judgements of the surrounding nations, his people thinking they were in the clear. But then, for Israel:
"For three sins of Israel, even for four, I will not relent. They sell the innocent for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals. They trample on the heads of the poor as on the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed. Father and son use the same girl and so profane my holy name. They lie down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge. In the house of their god, they drink wine taken as fines." - Amos 2:6-8
The word came that they were not without sin either.
And neither are we today.
So what would the prophets say of us today? What would they urge us to do?
Return
Perhaps from Hosea, we hear how God saves and blesses us. But we cannot ignore that we have squandered blessings and become a proud people. We ask for help and then say it isn't good enough. We put our trust in men and powers and money and circumstances that are not God. We audaciously ask for what we selfishly want, rather than boldy praying for His kingdom to come.
"I cared for you in the wilderness, in the land of the burning heat. When I fed them, they were satisfied; when they were satisfied, they became proud; then they forgot me."
"You are destroyed, Israel, because you are against me, against your helper.
Where is your king, that he may save you? Where are your rulers in all your towns, of whom you said, 'Give me a king and princes?'"
Hosea 13:5-6; 9-10
What does Hosea urge us to do? Return.
"Return, Israel, to the Lord your God. Your sins have been your downfall!
Take words with you and return to the Lord.
Say to him: 'Forgive all our sins and receive us graciously, that we may offer the fruit of our lips."
Hosea 14:1-2
Return Again
From Joel we hear and see the cycle of sin and are warned to not ignore it.
"Hear this, you elders; listen, all who live in the land.
Has anything like this ever happened in your days or in the days of your ancestors?
Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation."
Joel 1:2
What does Joel urge us to do? Return.
"'Even now," declares the Lord, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning."
Rend your heart and not your garments.
Return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and He relents from sending calamity.
Who knows? He may turn and relent and leave behind a blessing...everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved...there will be deliverance."
Joel 2:12-14, 32
Don't Miss the Promise After the Return
And from Amos we are constantly reminded, over and over and over, how the Lord will not relent in His judgment. Yet, we still do not return to Him!
"The Lord roars from Zion and thunders from Jerusalem...I will not relent..."
Amos 1:2-3, and 6 and 9 and 11 and 13 and 2:1 and 4 and 6.
God urges us to seek Him and live! To seek good and not evil, to hate evil and love good. He knows our offenses, our pride, our complacency. We cannot ignore that we will be judged for our sin.
But there is an epilogue that we cannot miss: a promise that follows our return and repentance.
Restoration.
"Seek me and live," the Lord says (5:4, 6). Though He knows "how many are [our] offenses and how great [our] sins." (5:12) How we oppress and judge and deprive..."the eyes of the Sovereign Lord are on the sinful kingdom...I will destroy it...yet I will not totally destroy...I will give the command, and I will shake the people..." (9:8-9)
"I will restore...repair...rebuild..." (9:11)
"...I will bring my people Israel back from exile. 'They will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them.
They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit.
I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them."
Amos 9: 14-15
Everything New
Do you see yourself here? I certainly see myself here. And it makes me ever more thankful for Christ, Who came to usher in a new era of return and restoration. I see myself and my land all over these words.
My prayer? "Come, Lord Jesus. Restore us and repair us."
There is a promise that one day this world will be rebuilt. But first, the old foundation must be torn away, making way for the new to be laid.
After reading and listening to the pleas of Hosea and Joel and Amos, do we see the need for this new foundation? Will we make space for the Savior to come in and start laying new rocks for future generations to stand on? May our lives, as the Church of today, be ones that help hold up the others during rebuild. We are living stones, 1 Peter tells us.
God is tearing down and tilling the ground. Will we let Him? Will we allow the old foundation to be left behind?
May we be a people that return to God, allow Him to restore us and begin the rebuild. May our turning away from sin and our returning to God be a revival that starts in us. And may it spread to our small groups, within our churches, and out into our cities and beyond.
"He who was seated on the throne said, 'I am making everything new!' Then he said, 'Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.'"
Revelation 21:5