Have you ever sat by a stagnant body of water? You know, like an old pond where the water is murky and covered with algae or a just a stagnant creek that hasn't seen the light of day all summer. Maybe I'm alone on this, but I just feel like they're one of the grossest things out there. They're full of mosquitos, moss and weird kinds of bacteria that are bound to cause diseases unknown to man if the water is consumed, and they're in no need of a 'no swimming' sign because that's the last thing anyone would want to do in them. Stagnant bodies of water are just kind of repulsive.
I sat by a stagnant body of water this weekend. Sure, it's the middle of winter, and there's no mosquitos or moss out yet, but it was still a very unappealing piece of nature. It smelt funny, and I could only imagine what kind of larva were laid in its depth just waiting to hatch come spring time. It was a reminder that there isn't a lot of good that comes out of a stagnant lifestyle.
The other day, I was reading in the book of Exodus, and in the first chapter, there's this verse that says, "The more they (the Israelites) were oppressed, the more they multiplied, and the more they spread abroad." In this verse, it's basically talking about talking about how the worse the Egyptians (the people enslaving the Israelites, God's people) treated the Israelites, the more they multiplied. In other words, the more the oppressed and the more persecuted God's chosen people were by the Egyptians, the more they grew as a people and multiplied throughout the land. Essentially, it sounds kind of like for every one Israelite that might have been treated poorly, 10 more Israelites were born. God's people just kept having babies, and there was nothing the Egyptians could do about it because the harder they tried, the worse the situation got. The Israelites were not a stagnant people; they were multiplying and spreading all over the place. But how and why? They were spreading and multiplying because they were oppressed and God was blessing them in that oppression. They weren't stagnant because they were in the face of persecution.
I think this same situation applies to God's people and the Church today. I think God multiplies and spreads His people the same way He has always, and sometimes, we forget that. Just as the Israelites multiplied and spread under great persecution and oppression from the Egyptians, the early Church multiplied and spread under great persecution and oppression from the Romans, and now, in modern times, just as the early Church multiplied and spread under great persecution and oppression from the Romans, the modern Church is multiplying and spreading under great persecution and oppression all around the world in countries like China where Christianity is illegal.
America is different. For the past couple hundred years, the Church here hasn't seen much persecution or oppression. On the contrary, it has seen the opposite. It has been supported by the majority of the population, and is, for the most part, known as a Christian nation. It's for this reason, that it seems like the Church in America has become stagnant at times. It has been a place that doesn't seem to move or multiply as much because it has lacked persecution; however, I think this could be changing, and I think for the first time in a long time, the Church in America may begin to start experiencing some of the persecution and oppression that God has always used to multiply and spread His people.
As things seem to get crazier and crazier in the 'nation under God,' I believe the Church will begin to lose some of its stagnation. I believe it's going to start to moving again, not that it hasn't in the past couple hundred years, but in a new way that it hasn't before. I believe the American Church is about to shake off some of the moss from its stagnant comfort and ease and move into a new period of multiplication and growth in a time when it's becoming harder and harder to be a Christian in this nation under God. It's going to be hard, and it's going to be different, but I'm excited. I'm excited to see what God has in store for this nation, and I'm excited not to be a stagnant pond any more. Let the waves roll in.
-Cliff
Cliff's Note: God's people multiply when God's people experience persecution.