The world was supposed to end this morning. According to Doomsday proponents, the ancient Mayan calendar predicted December 21, 2012 as the final day for our planet. And yet we’re still here. What happened? Or rather, what didn’t happen?
Some thought that Planet X (sometimes called Nibiru) would collide with our planet. Of course, astronomers pointed out that such a close object would have been visible in the night sky long before this morning. Others predicted a geomagnetic reversal of the north and south poles, but such reversals take as much as 7,000 years to complete and do not start on a particular day.
Still others expected the star Betelgeuse to explode as a supernova. Unfortunately for their logic but fortunately for their rest of us, the star is roughly 600 light years away; it would need to be within 25 light years of Earth to affect us.
Some thought that this day would mark not the end of the world but the beginning of a new age of higher consciousness. Today the Earth and sun are aligned with the center of the Milky Way, supposedly leading to the dawn of a new spirituality. However, NASA reports that this alignment is “an annual event of no consequence.”
Despite NASA’s naysayers, I would hope that today would indeed mark a spiritual awakening. One created not by a cosmic alignment, but by the alignment of God’s people with his Spirit. As I have been reporting for several years, a “great awakening” is moving across the world. More people are coming to Christ every day than at any time in Christian history. However, this awakening has not yet come to the Western world.
Rick Warren, promoting the 10th anniversary edition of his Purpose Driven Life, says that America’s greatest need is for a genuine Great Awakening: “We will either have a break down or another spiritual awakening. . . . If we have some kind of spiritual awakening I have great hope for America. If we don’t I see a sad decline.”
Do you agree? What will it take for America to experience a spiritual awakening in the coming year? Remember where spiritual renewal begins: “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14).
Humble—pray—seek—turn. Which commitment will you make to God this morning?
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