Awakening

​Recently I read a story in the newspaper only to find out that it was far more relevant than I realized.  The Oregonian reported a bad car accident after which a woman had to have an emergency cesarean to save the life of her baby.  Incredibly, the husband and father, is one of my drill sergeants.  He suffered two broken knees, a broken arm and head injuries. The driver of the other car happened to be a diabetic who blacked out.  His car crossed the median and two families’ lives were forever altered.  By God’s grace no one perished.

Meditation
Daniel 2:1--In the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams that troubled him, and sleep deserted him.
 
The Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar was the most powerful ruler of his time.  His empire was vast and his authority fearsome. God spoke to him in a dream that troubled his mind but which he could not recall.  He gathered all the wise men, sorcerers and magicians and demanded they reveal his vision and interpret its meaning.  Of course, it was an impossible request which they were powerless to solve. So the king, evidently short on patience, ordered their deaths.  Fortunately for them, the Hebrew prophet Daniel went before Nebuchadnezzar and with God’s help was able not only to tell the king his dream but also explain its meaning.  The dream was the precursor to a second dream and a spiritual awakening which would take place in the king’s life over a year later.  To read a most incredible story go in your Bible to Daniel chapter four.

When I visited my sergeant, he was in remarkable spirits for someone immensely suffering.  After talking with him, I placed my hand on his shoulder and asked if I could pray for him. With his consent I went before God’s throne.  Afterwards, he tapped his hand on his heart and said, “Oooh, that really gets me here.” Then as the reality of God’s grace in sparing his life and the lives of his wife and children settled across his mind, he began weeping.  He experienced an awakening that was profoundly touching.
​
Life is not a fixed formula.  God’s providential hand determines the length of your life.  Only He knows when you will stop breathing on this orbiting planet. Many of you have asked how my father is doing after his neck-breaking fall.  He is healing fast after having four bones in his neck fused together. While he will have less mobility, he suffers no paralysis and he has a new zest for life—an awakening.  I don’t know my sergeant’s spiritual condition yet. I do know my dad deeply loves God, as do most of you who are reading this.  But I also know that some of you who are reading this do not yet have a personal relationship with the Lord.  I hope that you will experience a spiritual awakening that will draw your heart to trust in Jesus before it is too late.  It would be an eternal tragedy to miss His loving call because you refused to awaken from your spiritual slumber.  Something to think about . . . in trepidation.  
 
Inspiration
There is only one thing that is simple, and that is our relationship to Jesus Christ. What is needed today is not so much a revival as a resurgent form of awakening, the incoming of the tremendous life of God in a new form.—Oswald Chambers in The Place of Help
 
©2001 Daniel York  ARR. Reveration is the weekly devotional ministry of First Cause.  If you would like to receive these devotionals go to www.firstcause.org and click on the “Click here to receive weekly devotionals” box.  Unlimited permission to copy this devotional without altering text or profiteering is allowed subject to inclusion of this copyright notice.      
 
Ecclesiastes 12:10-The Teacher sought to find delightful sayings and to accurately write words of truth.  (Holman CSB)