Revival - A Matter of Pespective

Continued...

Sometimes from that perspective, for me anyway, it can almost seem pointless then; that is to desire revival. The enemy has a bag of tricks to divert and distract. He says things to me like, “Is it going to actually do anything if there is a revival? It's been done! Don’t go out on a limb. Keep safe. What will people think? You know how much trouble you had in the middle of the night the last time you opened your mouth... don’t risk that again.” 

It says in the Bible:

And He (Jesus) was also saying to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, ‘A shower is coming,’ and so it turns out. And when you see a south wind blowing, you say, ‘It will be a hot day,’ and it turns out that way. You hypocrites! You know how to analyze the appearance of the earth and the sky, but why do you not analyze this present time? Luke 12: 54-56

In the story of David’s Great Sin with Bathsheba, I wonder (because temptation comes to me) how many years it took for David to grow so comfortable, so confident, and so blind, that he was able to, in good conscience, send out an army without risk to himself; staying home while the other kings all went out to battle. It was in that time of, what seems to be blind pride and arrogance, that David saw Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah who was fighting in the war, and took her from his home. He lay with her; he impregnated her while his servant was away.

Motivated by darkness David called Uriah back to supposedly give a report on the status of the war and the welfare of Joab. Uriah was loyal to the kingdom of God. But David’s sin and guilt was motivating David to stop Uriah’s service. David told Uriah to basically go home and relax and tried to butter him up with a present. But Uriah wouldn’t go home. His sense of duty wouldn’t allow him to be lax like the king. Instead Uriah slept at the door of the king’s house with all the servants of Joab. His loyalty to serve as he slept at David’s door seemed to have only brought more guilt to David’s conscience.

David made another mistake when he confronted Uriah and asked him why he didn’t go home. Uriah without guile told David that he couldn’t just go home and relax while the ark and Israel and Judah were staying in temporary shelters, and while his lord Joab and his servants were camping in the open field. With strong conviction he rejected David’s offer of comfort. He confronted David and sarcastically questioned should he go eat, drink and have relations with his wife while his brothers were suffering in the trenches? Truth was being revealed one step at a time, and he emphatically refused David’s direction!

So what did David do? Still trying to cleverly control things behind the scenes, he told Uriah to stay at his house that day, and the next he would send him back to battle. But David’s lack of sincerity was evidenced in that he further attempted to distract and hold Uriah back, for that evening he got Uriah full with food and drunk with alcohol. But still Uriah would not relieve David’s guilty conscience and just go home and sleep with his wife. Uriah stayed with his lord Joab’s servants instead.

It seems David couldn’t take it anymore; the guilt, the need to repent, the need to confess. Runaway pride won’t give up to the truth of our personal sin and our weakness. David was king! He needed to protect his strength, his reputation, his power. So in the morning the way he dealt with Uriah’s loyalty was that he put a letter in Uriah’s hand to deliver to Joab, which was actually Uriah’s death sentence. That’s how David, in his hidden sin, rewarded Uriah’s service; using his own hand to deliver his death sentence to Joab.

David thought he could conceal his sin. He overestimated his ability to be clever. Yes Uriah got killed in the front lines. But Joab smelled a rat. He knew it was wrong to send the army so close to the city to fight. He didn’t know David’s motivation, but God knew... and David’s wisdom was foolishness to God. David continued on with the charade when he was pleasant and forgiving with Joab’s messenger whom he had sent to tell the king about his servants who had died, including Uriah the Hittite. And as soon as Bathsheba was finished her period of mourning over the loss of Uriah her husband, David brought her to his house and made her his wife. But with all of his cleverness, what he had done was evil in the sight of the LORD.

So the LORD sent Nathan the prophet to David to confront him. David was outsmarted by God. And David had nowhere left to run. Sooner or later truth catches up to all of us. We can only live in a blind charade for so long. Eventually we will all have to face the truth. By God’s grace Nathan was sent and David repented. Nathan told David, “The LORD also has taken away your sin; you shall not die.” Thank the LORD for His mercy and grace. The consequence of David’s sin was that the son whom Bathsheba had bore for him would die. But David was revived by God’s mercy for God’s glory! God redeemed David!

But before God’s glory was seen, David had to see his sin.

How we can see revival in our homes, in our nations, and in our churches, until leaders and followers are willing to admit our sin and weaknesses and serve from that position of humility before God? Weak people who might be drawn to God are repelled by our shows of human strength. When we are strong God is weak in us. When we are strong we get more clever, more strategic, and more proud, and God opposes us.

We need to be real with God and with each other. We need to be leaders who confess when we’ve been wrong and to show people that we are in need of God’s love, mercy, and guidance, continually. There is no condemnation in Christ! There is freedom in ongoing truth! I thank God for the men and women who I know in Jesus Christ who are humble examples willing to repent when necessary. But that is not the norm. It seems like the model is strength, and weakness is despised. It’s easy to be vague about sin, but much more difficult to be specific and to confess the stuff we try to hide. But confession blesses God’s heart and reveals the light of Christ in our need, doesn’t it?

This is my opinion. To be strong we will frighten off the weak sinners looking for grace in Jesus Christ and encourage pride, professionalism, and carnality instead. It is my opinion that if we are weak in ourselves, but strong in Christ, we will begin to see God’s Spirit move freely toward repentance and revival, to lead sinners to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ... which I’ve come to believe is a timeless and ongoing need.

I think each of us needs to bring out what we might be hiding from the LORD, and one step at a time with Jesus the Way, the Truth, and the Life, we will be revived!

God bless you and thanks for reading.