My pastor recently said, “To make America great again requires that we consider what made her great the first time.”
The writer of Psalm 85 recalls a time when the Lord was favorable to the people of their land. It was a time when He forgave their sins and turned away from His anger. The psalmist prayed for restoration. Then he prayed:
“Will you not revive us again,
that your people may rejoice in you?
Show us your steadfast love, O Lord,
and grant us your salvation.”
Then he continues with confidence and hope:
“Let me hear what God the Lord will speak,
for he will speak peace to his people, to his saints;
but let them not turn back to folly.
Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him,
that glory may dwell in our land.”
On July 8, 1741, Jonathan Edwards preached his famous sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” The sermon portrayed a sinner dangling from a single spider-web-thin thread with the fires of hell lapping at the thread – and an angry, offended God about to cut the thread and watch him drop into hell. It is said that by the end of the sermon, there was not a dry eye. White-knuckled parishioners gripped the pew ahead of them. That message was the catalyst for the First Great Awakening.
A revival broke out in early America and many of the Founding Fathers were converted under such preaching. Other revivals followed. In many ways, America got off to a very good start. Certainly, there was a fear of God which restrained people from following their natural inclinations.
I believe that America’s greatest need is for its people to repent and return to God. But some folks don’t see a need. I think this is because we naturally compare ourselves favorably against other people. But to gain favor with God, we must come to Him on His terms.
He says in Isaiah 55:8-9:
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither 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.”
He doesn’t think like we do. So, we need to find out how He thinks.
In Isaiah 59:2, He says,
“…your iniquities have made a separation
between you and your God,
and your sins have hidden his face from you
so that he does not hear.”
Can God bring another revival and truly make America great again? Yes, but it must begin with me and with you. Will you pray with me for repentance and revival, first in Franklin, N.C.?
Ed Hill, Franklin