“This day is a day of distress, rebuke, and rejection; for children have come to birth and there is no strength to deliver” (2 Kings 19:3).
King Hezekiah’s assessment of his day mirrors our own. On June 26th our Supreme Court brought down its gavel and transformed marriage in our country from a “prince” of an institution into an un-kissable toad. In a week that saw African-American believers in Charleston murdered by a racially-prejudiced, gun-wielding thug, the Supreme Court, which a year ago announced that racial prejudice no longer is an issue in the United States, exercised its prejudice against the beliefs of millions of conservative Christians, Jews, and Muslims. But for us as evangelicals in particular, we have not felt this much collective pain since Roe vs. Wade, the day our country’s judicial system decided it was legal to kill unborn children.
If you’ve followed our ministry with churches, you know we teach that corporate pain plays a unique role in the Body of Christ. Jesus uses it to alert us to problems in His relationship with us as a group or body. So what does this judicial decision mean for the Church in our country as a whole and for your local church in particular? How do we find faith in what we recognize as a “day of distress”?
History gives us a few leads. In the book of Judges God repeatedly used national pain—caused when people did what was “right in their own eyes” as well—to get His people’s attention about things that were wrong in their relationship with Him. When the pain ultimately caused enough distress, they cried out to Him and He mercifully responded, freeing them from their oppressors and reviving their commitment to God once again.
During the Colonial era in America, a catastrophic earthquake in New England (!) in 1727 awakened dull and declining churches to seek God afresh. It led to the First Great Awakening, and indirectly to the birth of this nation.
The Church’s influence waned though after the Revolutionary War and began to wilt under the influence of Deistic national leadership. God’s people responded by crying out for mercy and our merciful God sent the Second Great Awakening in the 1820’s.
Just prior to the Civil War two huge economic downturns afflicted the country. One man started a prayer meeting over lunch in New York City that ended up attracting 10,000 unemployed businessmen and many others to cry out to God together. It led to the great Prayer Revival in 1857, one whose effects were felt for decades as men like D. L. Moody were converted during it.
More could be said about the painful events that preceded the Welch revival of in 1904 and how it spread to cities across America. Think of how much pain our nation was experiencing when the Jesus Movement hit its stride in the 1960’s and 70’s. Our merciful God always seems to respond to our cries in such times.
But if we believe that God uses distress to get His people’s attention (see 2 Chronicles 7:13), are we getting the message today? Are we responding? How many gather to pray and seek God’s mercy? Instead we are guilty of looking to one political party or another as our savior, and pinning our hopes on national elections. Many have confused American Nationalism with Christianity. Did we really believe our comfort, prosperity and freedom would insulate us from militant secularism?
From a biblical perspective, the Supreme Court’s decision to legalize gay marriage was not about the nature of marriage, homosexuality, our judicial system, or the vacuous values of our day. It is God’s goad to motivate a Laodicean-like Church to respond to His knocking at their door. So far we haven’t managed to get off the couch to open it!
The Old Testament states that the men of Issachar were known for “understanding the times.” American Christians need the same wisdom today. Since the Supreme Court’s ruling we have managed to respond in every way except in the one way that matters. Until we do, we reside closer to the days of Ichabod—when God’s glory departed the land—than Issachar’s.
Is it time for your church to do a little soul-searching and seek mercy from our God? Or will we wait until the pain inflicted on us intensifies and finally deprives us of all we value in this country?
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Rev. Mark Barnard serves as President of Blessing Point Ministries. Blessing Point works to mend the tapestry of church life. Barnard is the author of several books including The Path of Revival: Restoring our Nation One Church at a Time.