But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.--I Peter 3:15
Grimy miners in 1904, daily risking death in the all-too frequent cave-ins and explosions of that era had little to look forward to, except perhaps an early death. Christians in that era were overwhelmed by the oppression of a culture seeking to dismiss God so they could embrace the ultimate distraction from despair, a constant search for self-gratification.
Then, amongst the people of Wales came a brushfire, started not in one place but in many places. As the fire spread, it changed individual lives first, and then ... it changed a culture.
While in England and other countries the Church laments the estrangement of the working classes, here at the dawn of the twentieth century these, in their thousands, helped to create a movement whose end is not yet. Miners and quarrymen, field-laborers and tin-workers'----the whole artisanry of the Welsh nation, which means, of course, the overwhelming majority of it----joined in one immense prayer-meeting from north to south, from east to west. "It has burst out here, there, and everywhere', wrote Mr. W.T. Snead, at the year's close, 'without leaders, or organization, or direction'. Many a morning, when the daily paper brought news of crowded chapels and stirring scenes among Glamorgan's miners, the roadside laborer had also a secret in his heart, borne from a prayer-meeting at his little Bethel the previous night (in his own quiet time), which meant all the world to him. ----Elvet Lewis in With Christ Among the Miners (1907)
In the history of revivals and awakenings around the world, a pattern repeats itself. Christians watch as society erodes its commitment to the faith, then to the values of the faith, and finally seems to surrender itself to living for the moment, satisfying self over Christ. As the culture distances itself from the church, so too do Christians begin to withdraw from the culture, widening the chasm from both sides.
Inevitably, among the church are a few who still believe renewal is possible, who still pray for a work of the Holy Spirit that recaptures the hearts and imaginations of an entire culture. These faithful pray in the face of improbability to a God who controls all history, and they believe He has the power to change lives because He changed ours. We overcome despair by pushing back against the creeping self-absorption that tempts us daily; by filling are lives with the daily discipline of a conversation with God. The words He speaks in these times are most often written in Scripture, speaking to hearts prepared by prayer and the Holy Spirit.
When renewal/revival comes, if it comes, we may be surprised by its forcefulness, but we should never be surprised by Godâ??s faithfulness. No matter how dark the world may seem, it is up to us to nurture and feed the hope we have in Christ so others may see it in their despair.
For so many today, that hope is all that's left.
--Randy Kilgore
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