In 1 Samuel 4, the Israelites suffer a humiliating defeat, in which the Ark of the Covenant is captured by the Philistines. After the Ark is returned to Israel, through some serious divine intervention, the people of Israel ‘sought after the Lord’ (1 Sam 7:2), by ridding the land of foreign idols and serving the Lord only.
Once the nation had returned to the Lord, the prophet Samuel gathered the Israelites as Mizpah, so he could ‘intercede with the Lord’ for them. The Philistines however saw this gathering as an act of war, and attacked. Samuel continued to intercede with the Lord, and the Lord answered, by bringing about a crushing defeat of the Philistines, followed by a prolonged time of peace and prosperity. The whole episode is an outworking of Prov 8:17; ‘those who seek me find me’.
This is the principle of revivals. Historically speaking, revivals occur when a small group of Christians develop a ‘holy discontent’ with their own personal faith, the state of the church, and the surrounding culture. Yet knowing they are completely dependent upon God for the kind of changes they are seeking, they fall to their knees and ‘seek’ the Lord.
This type of prayer vigil does not guarantee a revival, as God chooses when and where he will act. Yet the Bible is clear that God wants his people to hunger and thirst for his righteousness. As such there is a discernible pattern to be seen in the history of revivals. When God’s people fall to their knees and repent of their sin and their self-reliance, and declare their utter dependence upon God, God has a habit of showing up.
While we are hopefully praying for revival every Saturday night, my desire is to see a growing holy discontent at our church. I don’t mean nit-picking all the things we don’t like about our church. I mean a growing dissatisfaction with our spiritual lives, both privately, corporately, and in our society at large. May we then turn that holy discontent into continuous prayer for revival, and wait to see God move. For ‘those who seek me find me’.
