Who Can Explain It?

Watch this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30rWm84z-zg

On February 12, 2010, the president of Haiti, President Preval, called the nation to 3 days of fasting and prayer in place of the celebration of Marti Gras. Over a million people showed up in the main square. From 6am to 6pm they cried out to God to heal their nation and repented of their sins. The Prime Minister came but could not address the crowd; he could only weep for an hour. Then President Preval came and the pastors laid hands on him and prayed for him. Over 3000 people were saved, and 101 of those had been voodoo priests.

I can imagine someone who doesn’t know God watching this video and thinking, what is this? These people experience a devastating earthquake. They lose friends and family members. They lose houses, jobs, and possessions. The whole nation is in upheaval. Why are they worshiping God? Why are they praying to the God who allowed this to happen? Why are people coming to faith in Christ? Why are they not enraged at God?

I can imagine this person who doesn’t know God thinking maybe these people are acting out of fear. They are afraid God will do it again and send more natural disasters, so they are praying to avoid his wrath. They are praying to appease his anger. But if you watch the video, you know that cannot be. There is no fear in their faces. There is Love. Hope. Desperation. Reverence. Brokenness. But no fear.

I can imagine a theologian thinking these people are worshiping God because they know he is worthy to be worshiped. The heavens are his, the earth is his, he can do as he wishes, and no matter the circumstances, he is worthy to be praised. Maybe that is true in some cases. And it is certainly true about God that he is worthy. But I don’t that’s why the people worship…

The reason they worship him is because they love him. They cannot help but stay in his presence. They cannot help but raise their arms in praise. I bet their arms were about to fall off after three days in the air. But I doubt anyone noticed or cared. They have to praise him.

But why do they love him when such horrors have come upon their people?

When all your physical comforts are taken from you in a second, and you are left without shelter, without food, without hygiene; when all your emotional comforts are taken from you and you are left without family, without home; when all that you have left is your own physical body keeping your soul on this earth, and even that physical body is perhaps broken and hurting, what will you turn to? What will you do with the next second of time when there is nothing that can be done, to undo the horrors, to go back to how it was before? What can you do but worship God? What can you do but cry out to him? Where can your soul turn but straight to where it always belonged, in the hands of your loving Father? What can you think to do except what was always inherent within you, to lift your eyes to God, and rend your heart bare before his eyes? And when his presence meets you in that moment, when repentance breaks off the bondages of many years, when you hear his Spirit weep along with your groaning soul, yet adorn you with an unknown shelter, an unknown strength, an unknown love, what will you do but worship him more, and resolve in your heart to never leave this place? Where else can you go? And what else can you do? And why, now that you are in his arms, would you want to go somewhere else or do something else even if you had everything back? There is nothing better than him. It is clearer than ever before. They love him because they cannot help but love him.

And so these people that have been broken, that have lost everything, that have suffered much devastation, have only this now. That God is still their God. And that God loves them. And strangely, they find that that is more than enough. That is life itself.

Beneath the peaceful blue skies, one million people are soaked in the rain of the Holy Spirit. In the midst of the silence, two million arms lift the weight of God’s glory. At a loss for words, their hands wave praises to the only God. The seconds feel like hours worth of revelation. The hours feel like only seconds have gone by. By the time the sun sets, the legs are shaky, the arms are numb, the eyes are falling into sleep. But the spirit says not enough. I’m satisfied, and it’s not enough. More of the presence of God. More time doing nothing but gazing. Doing nothing but worshiping. Doing nothing but waiting on him to speak. I cannot leave this posture of worship. It is what I was made for. It is where I belong. It is at once ecstasy and rest. Like nothing else in the world.

So the onlookers will marvel. They will guess, they will theorize, but they will never understand. Until they taste the presence of God for themselves. And then they will look at this earthquake, they will look at this revival, and they will say, GLORY BE TO GOD! FOREVER AND EVER! And no explanation is needed.