Get In on It While You Can!

Lava Rocks
My family and I have had the wonderful privilege of visiting Hawaii for vacation. Our trip took us to the Big Island, home of the world’s most active volcano, Kilauea. I had seen some beautiful pictures of fiery lava spewing into the air and pouring into the sea, and from what I read, people could actually get close enough to see a magnificent display of nature’s power. I was excited!

Kilauea had been erupting continuously since 1983, but prior to our trip, activity had been on the increase. On March 6, 2008, just before our vacation, lava from Kilauea began flowing into the sea, with gorgeous shows accessible to tourists. Officials even provided an access road and a viewing area for visitors to observe the lava display from a safe distance.

My family and I were all set to go. Not wanting to take unnecessary risks, we made sure we had appropriate shoes. We had flashlights to help us make the walk from the parking area to the observation area. On the night before our trip to the volcano side of the island we even called the number that park rangers set up to check the status of volcanic activity. All systems were go, and the lava was flowing nicely!

When we arrived at the observation area, to our surprise and disappointment, we found that the lava flow to the ocean had stopped! Unfortunately, we had waited until the very end of our vacation to make this trip, and we never got a chance to see anything like we had expected.

If only we had known that the lava was going to stop! The heightened activity had been going on for weeks, so we just assumed that we could go at any time during our vacation. Had we realized that the flow could be disrupted at any moment, we would have arranged our plans differently and gone earlier in our vacation. We most certainly could have gone a day or two earlier. That was a lesson learned about the forces of nature. It’s also a lesson concerning the display of God’s power that we often call “revival” or “awakening.”

Revival can be like that lava flow—it doesn’t fit our plans or timetable. And if we want to get in on what God is doing during a time of heightened spiritual activity, we have to do so while we can. If the fires of revival are burning hot today, there are absolutely no assurances that they will be burning hot tomorrow.

Revival corresponds to what Peter, in Acts 3:19, refers to as “times” or “seasons” of refreshing. I’ll be talking a lot about why we need revival, what it is, what we’re supposed to do with it, and more, in this blog. There’s a lot to cover! The most important thing to know, however, is that revival is a work of God that takes place in his timing. We can’t make revival happen, and we can’t control revival. We can and should cooperate with God in revival, but it’s not sustained by our power. And that fact means that just as revival starts in God’s timing, it can—and will—end in God’s timing.

So, when you get the news that revival is happening, don’t try to make it fit your schedule. Don’t risk the possibility of the great disappointment of missing out on the flow. Revival is coming. Some signs point to the possibility that revival is here already. Let’s get in on it while we can.