Our problem is that we want the revival, but we want it for free.
Or at least, we aren’t keen to pay the price on the tag. It seems so expensive – demanding our time, our commitment, and most painful of all, our relinquishment of what we think is control. We like so damn much (yes, literally, damn much!) to believe we have this freedom to choose and that it is ours to wield and to defend. And you, God, stay firm in your demand that we turn over this treasure, in exchange for this thing called revival! You stubbornly insist that we will not see and dispense your glorious power unless we first, and earnestly, and repeatedly, kneel to you. Follow you. Abide in you.
You make clear that spending time with you, really in your presence, is the only way we may hear your whispered guidance. Our demands that you talk to us – do you not hear them? Do you hear, but not listen? Or do you weep, watching us bang our heads on the proverbial wall over and over again? Do you think, “if only they would listen…”?
Oh, but Lord, I know that you also make it possible for us. You are patient like no other, and you invite us to sit with you, and invite again, and again. And you offer us your peace that surpasses understanding. And if we accept, you help us to learn the value of this so-called freedom and control that we cherish. Fool’s gold. Crumbling, useless rubbish. And though we need to re-learn it again and again, you give us that opportunity.
Lord, help me.
Abide. In. You.