When God Visited America--Part Two

“Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.”  Psalm 33:12 (NIV)

In order for something to be revived, it must be dead, or close to it.  Revival is a temporary state—it can only be sustained by a spirit of repentance and a desire to see God’s glory.  Eventually, people are lulled back to sleep.  So it was in the early 1800’s.  The brutality of the Revolutionary War and the energy it took to establish a new country, had taken its toll.  Consumption of alcohol had increased substantially (about 4-5 times what it is today) and moral decay had set in. Hardly a church could be found in the new territories that were being settled.  Many feared that America could not survive. Once again, God came down, as His people began to wake up and cry out to Him.  The Second Great Awakening came in waves, from 1800-1850, and the effects were far-reaching.  Not only were people returning to God in astounding numbers, schools were started (no public education existed), colleges and universities founded, hospitals were built, as well as shelters for the poor, and foreign missionary societies were begun.  Several men were instrumental in waking America from its slumber—Francis Asbury and Charles Finney are well known, but Timothy Dwight’s story caught my attention because it is so applicable to today.  As President of Yale College, he brought waves of revival to that campus, at a time when almost all students mocked Christianity and its values. The revival spread to Dartmouth and Princeton Colleges, as well. The largest revival came 14 years after his death in 1831.  I encourage you to read about these astounding events and the people who cooperated with God to bring them about.  As hopeless as our world seems today, nothing is impossible for God!