The Asbury Revival

Some of my readers may remember an event that occurred about this time last year known as the Asbury Revival.
In short, it was a perceived movement of God that began at the end of morning chapel services when students from Asbury University in Kentucky spontaneously remained in the auditorium afterwards to pray and worship. It ended up lasting about two weeks and was attended by upwards of 70,000 visitors from around the world.

This event was hailed as an awakening of sorts, a shot in the arm, if you will, for American churches, especially as it pertained to young believers.

I don't care to get into details about this event or even critique it but there are a couple things this brings to mind as it has to do with revival in our personal walks.

First, since the latter half of the 20th century, we in American Christendom have intertwined spiritual revival with political revival. I've heard many express hope that the Asbury Revival would wake up the young generation and spark a return to the sensibilities we once held as a nation reversing the moral, social and political slide we are currently experiencing. While that would be nice, that's not true revival. Read Jeremiah 3:6-10:

Now in the days of King Josiah, the LORD said to me, “Have you seen what faithless Israel has done? She has gone up on every high hill and under every green tree to prostitute herself there. I thought that after she had done all these things, she would return to Me. But she did not return, and her unfaithful sister Judah saw it.

She saw that because faithless Israel had committed adultery, I gave her a certificate of divorce and sent her away. Yet that unfaithful sister Judah had no fear and prostituted herself as well. Indifferent to her own infidelity, Israel had defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees. Yet in spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart, but only in pretense,” declares the LORD. Emphasis mine.

Jeremiah gave this message during the days of King Josiah, one of the most godly kings in Judah. While the books of 1 & 2 Kings recount eight good kings over Judah, only two of those kings, Hezekiah and Josiah, destroyed the high places where the people committed idolatry. In fact, Josiah went so far as to go beyond the borders of Judah and destroy the shrines the northern tribes of Israel had set up when the Jews split into two nations.

And Josiah removed all the shrines also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which kings of Israel had made, provoking the LORD to anger. He did to them according to all that he had done at Bethel. 2 Kings 23:19 ESV

It is during the reign of this most godly king that God calls out His people for being half hearted in their devotion to Him.

Clearly, revival does not come from the top down. Good things happening in civil government and churches may inspire hope but unless each of us turns wholeheartedly to God, no revival has taken place.

Not much was said of the movement at Asbury University after the final meeting concluded in late February. To be honest, I never gave it another thought until I came across an article discussing it one year later. Does this mean God did not move on individual lives in such a way that they were changed? I cannot say. You see, another error we make when it comes to revival is the thought that once a revival happens, it continues of its own inertia. Society changes; a nation becomes godly once again.

Revival happens when we are confronted with the holiness of God, we repent (make a U-turn) and begin following Him. Contually. For those of us who have turned to God, did our initial revival continue by itself? Does a life lived for God naturally happen without being in the Word or in fellowship with others of like faith? No! Revival happens each time we get into the Word and let the Word get into us. That is where true revival happens.

So, let's not judge a revival by some emotional outpouring or a marathon worship service. Let's not judge a revival by our hope for a widespread political upheaval; let's judge a revival by a long term commitment to following God by letting His Word revive us daily.

In Him,
Arnold

Unless otherwise indicated, all verses quoted are from the Berean Standard Bible.