There is a modern day phenomenon that is sweeping across our world. It is characterized by an underlying sense of loneliness, melancholia or homesickness. The thing that is different about this malady is that this sense of loneliness, of melancholia and homesickness is experienced by people who remain in their home, and familiar environments. Australian philosopher Glenn Albrecht has stated that, Humans are experiencing epidemics of physical and mental disease that have connections to the environment. He has called this phenomenon, Solastalgia, nostalgia of the soul. Albrecht relates this Solastalgia to environmental issues, but in reality, even in the church, amid our myriad of activities, and busyness we find countless Christians who would say that they too are suffering from a form of Solastalgia. Homesickness when they have never left home. This is simply homesickness for the Presence of God.
Missing Him
Most observers of the modern Church movement tell us that we live in a time in the West of unprecedented wealth, and activity. We have more resources than ever before in the history of the Church. Our calendars and our mail boxes are filled with opportunities for seminars, training weekends, conferences and conventions. We are more highly trained and equipped than ever before. Yet in increasing numbers we have people who are jumping off the Gospel Ship in droves looking for something to fill the Solastalgia that they feel. And honestly, many may not be able to even articulate what it is they are homesick for. They only know that deep within there is a longing that is not being filled with the activities and programs of the modern church. Many have gone from church to church looking for something that would fill this void, and not finding churches that meet that need, drop out completely. Because they have never known it, they do not realize that the nostalgia they feel is a longing for the Presence of God.
Reasons for His Absence
The question then needs to be asked, Why is God not with us? Are there reasons for His absence? Of course, we have used theological arguments to justify our lack of the Manifest Presence of God in our midst. We say that God is everywhere, so He is indeed here with us. But our hunger for Him belays the reality there is more that God wants, and more that we hunger for. A careful study of Scripture and of history will yield many examples of periods of time where the Presence of God came into a community in such glory and power that even the unbelieving world recognized that God had come to the community. It is the desire of God to dwell in our midst, but there are clear reasons why God does NOT. A passage that we have looked at before is clear. Hosea 5: 15 Then I will go back to my place until they admit their guilt. And they will seek my face; in their misery they will earnestly seek me. Though God loves us passionately, his holiness and justice are such that he cannot live with evil. As the prophets Habakkuk and Isaiah put it, Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong (Habakkuk 1:13), Your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you (Isaiah 59:2).
Getting Real
If this is all we had, we might be tempted to conclude that is does not get any better than this. However, in communities all across our globe today, God is showing up in power and grace. This is happening, not by chance, but where God is finding a core of people who are getting real with Him and with one another. People who are so desperate and hungry for God’s presence, people who are sick of the solastalgia, that they are willing to do whatever is necessary to see Him come to their communities. It does not matter who they are, and most of the time they are the unknowns in a location who are the catalysts for God’s entrance. In Northern Thailand, a mighty revival is being led by Kindergarten children who spend up to eighteen hours at a time in prayer and worship. God is not impressed by all our posturing and programs. He reads the heart and will respond to sincerely hungry hearts. Today He is looking for those in our communities who will have the courage to get real with Him, gather with others of like heart and passion, and seek Him until He comes.
Living in Expectation
Too long as a Christian community we have lived in an atmosphere of unspoken defeatism. We live with the attitude that we can work hard and do our best, but really it will not get much better than this. Confessing and forsaking sin, dealing ruthlessly with everything that keeps God at bay must be accompanied with a Biblically based expectation that if we indeed to what He tells us, He will come! We cannot produce transforming revival, but we can prepare our hearts and prepare the highway for God, and know with a certainty that when we do that. HE WILL COME! (Hosea 6:3; II Chronicles 7:14)
Now is the time. Are you tired of your solastalgia? How hungry are you for His Presence?
Our Loving and Gracious Lord, we thank You that Your desire more than we can ever know to dwell in our midst. Forgive us for living with a defeatist solastalgia that is not what Your desire for us. Grant us the fortitude to break free from our bondages and seek You until You come to our lives, our churches, and our communities in all Your manifest power and glory. We confess there and now, only You can make the changes our society needs today. Lead us to others with hungry hearts, that we might seek you together. We pray this in Jesus Name. Amen.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solastalgia
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