Pastor Hurst

THERE IS A PLACE

If you take time to put Scripture into your heart and mind, you never know when it is going to surface suddenly . I was driving round and round, floor after floor, of the hospital parking garage looking for a parking space. Several times, diligently scanning the backs of diagonally parked cars, I was sure from a distance that I had discovered a parking space. When I got there, I was disappointed. The space wasn't empty at all. It was occupied by a compact car. The protruding rear ends of two larger vehicles in bordering spaces hid the back of the compact making the space appear empty. If you drive, you have experienced that disappointment of thinking you had found the parking place you were seeking only to discover it was already taken. The driver than responds with a frustrated, "I just can’t find a place to park." As this happened to me this week, one of those Scriptures suddenly surfaced above my mundane reeling of thoughts. It was a verse that records the words of God to Moses. "There is a place by Me," God declared to Moses (Exodus 33:21). That place was a cleft in the rock where God would place Moses, cover him with His hand, and as He passed by, remove His hand long enough that Moses might seeing the disappearing glory of His presence. Sometimes we need a parking place. We have an appointment, a purchase need, etc. Sometimes we are almost desperate for a place. It is disappointingly frustrating not to find one. Often spiritually we begin to feel our need of a place. We long for a place where we experience God's presence, have our faith renewed, are recalibrated, renewed, and restored. We long for a place where we meet God afresh. We need not be despaired. If we would listen, we would hear, "There is a place by Me."

AFTER Revival

When my wife walked by dusting, she did not know that her comment would make this article for today. We were discussing our gratefulness over how well how many had gotten into revival and had prayed, worshipped, rejoiced. That is a thrill to the heart of a pastor-seeing people respond to the move of the Spirit and receive what they so desperately need. People moved out of their comfort zone, beyond their usual. That is what revivals are all about. Her comment, following her statement of how folks were getting in was something like, "We'll see. What matters is after revival." She isn't a cynical person. She was just stating the obvious. Truly what matters isn't the cathartic, emotional moment at the altar in and of itself. What matters is the lasting effect of such a moment. In a word what does it take for what God has done in people's lives to last beyond the revival services? Faithfulness. Emotions are fickled things. They come and go. But being faithful will keep a person in the place that when the next wave rolls in he will be there to experience it. Faithfulness preserves in the practice of life that thing God has done in the heart. Faithfulness; faithfulness to personal devotion; faithfulness to convictions and commitments made; faithfulness to ministries; faithfulness to church services. Faithfulness. Revivals are not to be momentary spiritual high points from which folks settle back down to their previous niche once the meetings are over. Revivals are footholds the faithful can use to move upward, onward, forward. Then again, what my wife meant was after the revival services. There is no need that the revival itself end. Faithfulness would insure that as well.