Revivals often begin when people realize just how desperately they need one. And the need is always very real. The world is suffering under the weight of natural chaos and human sin, and it desperately longs for the glory of God to come and set everything right. When people recognize this, when they long for God, and when they pray for his renewal, revivals happen.
Josiah, one of the last kings of Judah, brought about such a revival when he realized how desperate his situation really was. Imagine a holy nation, called to obey the Lord’s commands all of her days, finding the book of the Law in a dusty storage closet and realizing no one had even seen it for at least seventy-five years! What was supposed to be the dwelling place of God was instead a place where chaos and evil had become the norm, and they were doomed for destruction. Their situation was desperate indeed, and the need for a revival had never been higher.
As it was back then, so it is today: everyone in the community comes together and is involved in a revival. All the people come and pray together for a radical change. But God never changes, whereas men do; so in every revival, there is a pledge to put away every sin—even the casual, apathetic sins—and commit themselves to joyfully glorifying God. Josiah was king over a people in covenant with God, and so in renewing the covenant, he was declaring that the nation would make that radical, radical shift back to their God.
But the purpose of revivals is to last! The people in Josiah’s time got energetic and excited for a time, but it wore off. Ideally, if we’re committing ourselves to the Lord, we’re committing to pursue him always and never recede back. This has been our theme at Student Life Camp this week. We’ve gotten to see our students grow eager and excited to be revived and commit themselves to their God. If we are revived, we never stop praying, and we never stop obeying. Perhaps we should pray for a true, lasting revival today.
