Nena Arias | April 24, 2023
“Train up a child in the way he should go;
even when he is old he will not depart from it.”
(Proverbs 22:6)
In recent days, young people have been manifesting greater belief in God and hunger to get closer to him as has been reported from the Asbury University Campus. The hunger seems to be spreading especially throughout other university campuses. This is a breath of fresh air for sure. It is also an answer to decades of prayer for a biblical reformation to take place in America.
An annual report on the status of religious beliefs among youth people based on a December polling by the Springtide Research Institute, a nonpartisan, nonprofit, found that about one-third of 18–25-year-olds say they believe on the existence of a higher power. This is up about one-quarter in 2021.
I strongly believe the chaotic culture, politics, education, breakdown of the family, racial unrest, the out-of-control economy, and what seems to be the breakdown of all the structure of life in our time is causing the young people to hunger for more stability and they know by now they can’t depend on human institutions and ingenuity to carry them into a solid future. They want and need to believe in something beyond themselves. They need protection. They are realizing God is our only answer and they are absolutely right. This is why I say this manifestation is a breath of fresh air, but more than that it also brings hope back into our outlook for the future.
We know that a pandemic of the magnitude the world has faced in the last three years can only happen when God wants people’s attention to correct wicked ways, at least this is the pattern we read about in the Bible in God’s merciful treatment of his people. God knows that if he does not intervene, humans will destroy themselves anyway.
Young people saw how life all across the board was greatly disturbed and how much loss of life, family and friends was brought about by this crisis. There was and is still much uncertainty about jobs and life as we knew it. The God factor in all of us causes us to turn to him for comfort and healing during times of tragedies. These young people that are looking to God is because they need answers and hope.
Some of these young people are remembering what they learned about God when they were growing up in church but when they went off to get higher learning, they left God in their past. But now they are remembering biblical passages that they were taught, and God’s Word does the rest and speaks truth into their spirit. Isaiah 55:11 says, “So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” Hence the importance of what Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.”
I am beyond delighted to see this trend among our young people and I truly hope and pray it is the answer to decades long of prayers for a biblical reformation in our lifetime that we so desperately need.
So let it be, Lord Jesus!