Does God Need to Meet Our Expectations?

Have you ever felt impressed to pray something like, “Lord, You’ve probably noticed, but things aren’t going well in the world these days. Would You please intervene and stop the growing godlessness in our world?” I have. Occasionally I’ve added a suggestion: “Something like a vast, spiritual awakening would be wonderful.”

Could it be that God, in more ways than we could imagine, is in the process of doing just that?

 

I’ve been reading about the spontaneous, student-led revival at Asbury University in Wilmore, Ky, near Lexington. It started on Feb. 8 at the biweekly chapel service in the university’s auditorium. More than a week later, students were still there, reading the Bible, singing, weeping, repenting, and praying. By all accounts, it wasn’t staged as an excuse to skip classes and forgo exams.

 

Students from other colleges were being drawn to the Asbury movement and beginning to “export” it to their own campuses. What do you suppose could be the impact if students from coast to coast, stirred by the Spirit of God, experienced similar “revivals” at their institutions of higher learning? 

 

Asbury – then Asbury College – was the site of a revival in 1970 that swept the campus and spread to other parts of the United States. Many lives were forever changed as men and women committed their lives to Jesus Christ and others deepened in their faith. 

 

The most recent Asbury revival might seem an isolated event, but there are other indications of a divine movement surging against the tides of secularism and skepticism.

 

Consider the response to “The Chosen,” a video series about Jesus Christ and His followers. Described by founder and producer Dallas Jenkins as a “TV show,” it’s the most successful crowd-funded production in media history. Its third eight-episode season just completed, “The Chosen” has captured the attention of countless millions of viewers across the U.S. and around the world.

 

An intriguing new theatrical film, “The Jesus Revolution,” has just been released about the so-called Jesus Movement of the 1970s. With the cast including popular actors Kelsey Grammer and Kimberly Williams-Paisley, as well as Jonathan Roumie, who portrays Jesus in “The Chosen,” this movie is likely to receive lots of attention. Can anything good come out of Hollywood?

 

In a recent talk, Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow recounted the response to the “John 3:16” eye black he wore during his championship days as quarterback at the University of Florida. After seeing the inscription below his eyes during the games, millions of people were prompted to Google what John 3:16 meant. Surely some folks discovered for the first time how much God loved the world.

 

From around the globe come reports of God at work in myriad ways, including dreams and visions. We don’t hear a lot about this because the mainstream media doesn’t care, but in some regions, people are coming to know Jesus Christ in unprecedented numbers – and in very unusual ways.

 

Such developments should thrill every follower of Jesus but alas, not everyone seems happy about it. The Asbury revival has had its skeptics. “The Chosen” not only has avid fans but also vociferous detractors. Tebow’s actions weren’t universally applauded, even within the Christian community. Surprising?

 

Richard Blackaby, son of Henry Blackaby who developed the acclaimed Experiencing God Bible studies, has noted, “Every revival in history has had its critics, usually within the Church, because they disagreed with how God was doing it.”

 

We tend to put God in a box, believing He should work only in certain ways, according to our particular theology, doctrines and proclivity. We’re inclined to oppose or at least question anything that transpires outside those parameters. 

 

The Scriptures, however, assert God doesn’t need our approval for acting in whatever He chooses. It was youthful and impetuous Elihu who said, in response to the travails of Job and judgments by his older but unhelpful “friends,” “Why do you complain against Him, that He does not give an account of all His doings?” (Job 33:13).

 

Speaking through the prophet Isaiah, God made clear that He will not be limited by our expectations. “‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ declares the Lord, ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts’” (Isaiah 55:8).

 

I admit to having my own ideas about what God should do, how and when and why. But He’s never needed to consult with me about His plans. “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments and his paths beyond tracing out!” (Romans 11:33).

 

Are all of these seeming movements of God genuine? Only time will tell. But despite mounting evidence of people turning from Him, it’s heartening to learn about ways that God drawing folks to Himself. As Proverbs 21:30 declares, “There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord.”