Re-Commitment or Revival

Flagging discipline can hinder us from forming or maintaining healthy routines, and even the most committed can find themselves in a rut.  We can do all the right things when our hearts are not in it, and it is easy to make excuses and be slack when there seems to be little immediate benefit for toiling or negative consequences for going back on our plans.  This is often true with physical and spiritual fitness.  An exercise regime is started with good intentions but we quickly lose interest.  Regular devotions and church gathering used to be impacted by work and holidays may now be flagging due to Covid restrictions and cold weather.

Growing up I would hear people in the church speak as though they were two categories of Christians:  those walking with the LORD and those who were backsliding.  It seemed those who identified with being a "backslider" might have been better served to call themselves "in sin" and in need of repentance and to return to the LORD in obedience.  These people were particularly vulnerable to what I call the re-commitment trap.  I observed the same cycle among adults and youth of various durations:  longer cycles went from one church retreat to the next, and others had a weekly cycle of "backsliding" when away from fellowship.  Since born-again status was guaranteed by their assent to biblical doctrine, on Sunday mornings an opportunity for re-commitment was offered for the backslider along with a promised of salvation for the unsaved.  It seemed like people re-committed themselves to God again because they hoped one of those times it would "stick" and actually make a difference.  What I have learned since then is our commitment or "re-commitment" has basically nothing to do with salvation or sanctification at all, for receiving the Gospel and walking with Jesus by faith is all by God's grace.

Good works will always accompany a heart born again by faith in Jesus.  Such a soul will learn from God's word to humble themselves, repent, put off the works of the flesh and be led by the Holy Spirit.  People make "commitments" every day that are mere words and sign legally binding documents they do not always uphold.  The truth is, all those who are genuinely born again will be faced with the need of personal reforms if they will continue to walk in obedience to God.  This is illustrated several times in scripture.  For instance, after Saul was anointed king over Israel for years many of the people lived as though he was not king at all, did not give him presents and resented his rule.  After the LORD used him to coordinate a great victory over the Philistines 1 Samuel 11:14-15 says, "Then Samuel said to the people, "Come, let us go to Gilgal and renew the kingdom there." ¹⁵ So all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the LORD in Gilgal. There they made sacrifices of peace offerings before the LORD, and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly."  On that day there was a notable change in the hearts of some people toward God and king, for when the kingdom was renewed in Gilgal they all rejoiced greatly.

When idolatrous Ahab and Jezebel ruled in Samaria, the worship of Ba'al was promoted and the prophets of God were persecuted and killed.  The prophet Elijah spoke to Ahab and told him there would be no rain except at his word, and for about three years the land languished in drought.  In Deuteronomy 11:16-17 God previously warned His people this was one judgment He would bring upon them for idolatry.  Elijah organised a contest on Mt. Carmel between the prophets of Ba'al and himself, a prophet of the one true God:  the God who answered with fire from heaven would be revealed to be God and the only God people were to fear and worship.  The prophets of Ba'al went first and for many hours shouted and danced to no avail.  1 Kings 18:30 says, "Then Elijah said to all the people, "Come near to me." So all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD that was broken down."  Elijah needed to repair the altar of the LORD because sacrifice, praise and thanksgiving to God had been neglected.  After Elijah repaired the altar, laid the wood and sacrifice in order which he drowned in water, at the time of the evening sacrifice God answered with fire from heaven.

After a victory only made possible by God over an immense army from Ethiopia, King Asa was met by a prophet of God in 2 Chronicles 15 who exhorted him to seek the LORD and personal reforms led to revival.  2 Chronicles 15:8 reads, "And when Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and removed the abominable idols from all the land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities which he had taken in the mountains of Ephraim; and he restored the altar of the LORD that was before the vestibule of the LORD."  Asa had been following God faithfully, yet there were idols all around which required taking courage in God to take the huge step of removing them.  Asa then gathered all the people together on a set day to offer sacrifices to God of the spoils they received after their recent victory.  He even removed his own mother from being queen because she had set up an idol in a grove.  Asa and all the people entered into a covenant before the LORD of their fathers they would seek Him with all their hearts and souls.  Items his father had dedicated to the LORD Asa brought into the temple, and God was with him.

God puts no demand in His word for people to make a commitment or "re-commit" to Him for salvation or for sanctification.  Recommitting is all about returning to a previous level of commitment when God would have us go far beyond that in faith and obedience to Him like Asa did.  Our previous manner of life was not sufficient in itself to maintain our devotion or sacrifice:  what does it profit to return to the life that resulted in chronic backsliding?  Like these biblical examples, there are times we must choose to take action to renew our focus, to repair what we have neglected, to restore godly practices when we have been slack, to remove idols which have cluttered up our hearts, to rally one another to draw near to God.  The one thing Samuel, Elijah and Asa had in common was their desire to seek the LORD and give all praise and honour to Him.  Their focus was not on themselves and their need for re-commitment, but to seek the LORD because they knew, feared and loved Him.  The re-commitment trap is one driven by guilt for sin with no repentance required, whereas revival is a work God does by the power of the Holy Spirit in those who seek Him and humbly heed His word.

Commitment is all about what we have decided and what we will do, and the life of faith in God is all about what He has done and promised.  No man can revive himself, but God promises to revive His people by His grace in Isaiah 57:15:  "For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: "I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones."  The ones who simply cry out, "God, be merciful to me a sinner!" have the promise of revival offered to them by the living God, while the ones who re-commit can remain in the same old rut.