Which Way the Tide?
America’s Future at Her 250th Year

David Bryant

Which way the tide? That’s a question that has haunted me for most of my life.

But where did the question come from? What does it mean? Why does it even matter?

And how does it relate to our celebration of America’s semiquincentennial anniversary?

Step back with me into the spring term
of my senior year in high school.

That March, I decided to participate in a nationwide high school orators’ contest. After many rounds of competition, the finalists from each of the fifty states gathered in June at Rice University in Houston, Texas, for the championship event. That week, I placed third in the nation with my original oration titled, “Which Way the Tide?”

In my memorized talk, I asked the audience to consider the possibilities for America’s future. I did so by using an illustration of ocean waves washing onto a beach.

On the one hand, I suggested that the years ahead for our national life might be marked by an incoming tide bringing us waves of moral and spiritual restoration and renewal (which America clearly needed even then).

On the other hand, I warned us as a nation that instead we might experience an outgoing tide—a gradual receding of waves toward a low point of moral and spiritual decline—with all its attendant adverse impacts on every aspect of American society and global strength.

To my surprise, despite how young I was, I was invited to deliver that exact talk to a variety of groups over the next few months, including two gatherings filled with influential state and national political leaders. The sobering alternatives represented by the tide image seemed to intrigue people, even as it unsettled them.

That season of my life has never closed for me.

The prophetic question I raised in my talk has haunted me ever since. All these years later, I continue asking:

Which way is the tide flowing for the United States?
Is it coming in or is it going out?

If you’ve followed my writing, speaking, podcasts, videos, and messages these past decades, it should be little surprise to you that the eight-minute oration’s original concern from fifty years ago is the driving force behind the writing of my most recent book, THE HOUR HAS COME, and now hosting these dozens of video clip episodes drawing on the book. (See more on the book here and more on the videos here.)

Today, I believe, more than ever, that Christians in America have reason to hold to the solid conviction that the waves are already rolling toward shore.

We have reason to believe our nation is about to be transformed powerfully by the active, sovereign, saving intervention of the merciful and gracious, risen and reigning, powerfully redeeming and pervasively renewing Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ.

As far as I’m concerned, the question that has haunted me through the decades is about to be answered. So, let me expand on that hope—on the promise it raises for the future for the soul of America.

I do so by presenting here a series of what I call “prophetic snapshots.”

“Which way the tide?”
Here’s what I see for America:

I see an incoming tide as the Triune God shakes and wakes Christians of all stripes, bringing all of us alive to Christ in powerful ways by the Word and the work of the Holy Spirit.

I see an incoming tide as Christians, in thousands of individual congregations from all traditions across the land, start encouraging one another to band together to explore more of the wonders of the Son of God. I see them discovering more about the greatness of Jesus, experiencing more of the goodness of Jesus, and becoming more for the glory of Jesus.

“Which way the tide?”
Here’s what I see for America:

I see an incoming tide as the American Church replicates on a grand scale the words of 2 Corinthians 2:14:

But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of Christ everywhere (NIV).

I see an incoming tide as the Spirit of God ministers to Jesus followers throughout the Body of Christ, revealing to them a richer vision of the saving supremacy of our loving Messiah—so that we become more like Christ in all we do and say.

I see an incoming tide as, by word and deed, countless Jesus followers, newly awakened to the beauty of Jesus, will set about replicating his righteous, renewing ministry within every community—as well as inside every domain of culture, such as government, business, and media—but most of all, within the regular routines of everyday Americans.

“Which way the tide?”
Here’s what I see for America:

I see an incoming tide that makes it possible to describe what is transpiring right now within the life of the villages, towns, and cities in our land by paraphrasing Malachi 1:11:

“’In every community, the incense of love for Christ will rise before God’s throne so that the name of the Redeemer will be great throughout America,’ says the Lord Almighty.”

“Which way the tide?”
Here’s what I see for America:

I see an incoming tide as God’s people stand shoulder to shoulder to achieve a holy, Kingdom-based outcome that far exceeds the capacity of any progressive or conservative politics. This happens because, with one heart and voice, Jesus followers unite to spread the gospel throughout all of America, magnifying the wonderful works of our Redeemer.

I see an incoming tide as the truth about the matchless marvels and transforming grace of the Lord of our salvation—proclaimed consistently and lived out experientially by his followers—becomes the Church’s greatest contribution to the moral, relational, and spiritual revolution of our society in the days ahead.

I see an incoming tide as the living Lord Jesus Christ works in and through and with millions of God’s people, who significantly reshape the character, leadership, welfare, relationships, morals, priorities, and spiritual vibrancy of America as a whole, thus renovating the soul of our nation.

“Which way the tide?”
Here’s what I see for America:

I see an incoming tide as awakened, revived, and reenergized Jesus followers from coast to coast fall so in love with Jesus as Lord of their lives that they keep his commandments. In other words, for Jesus’ sake:

they forgive and love their enemies;
feed the hungry; house the homeless; welcome strangers;
visit prisoners; bless the poor;
strive for justice; pray for their persecutors;
treat others with respect; show compassion to the broken;
seek reconciliation everywhere needed;
honor little children; love neighbors as they love themselves;
and build communication and understanding
among people of various races, statuses, occupations,
political views, religious preferences, and more.

“Which way the tide?”
Here’s what I see for America:

I see an incoming tide as the people of God live above current earthly divisions, partisan and otherwise, to unite around a far higher calling by giving loving obedience to advance the GLOBAL cause of the Son of God.

I see an incoming tide as America, soaked with the tangible reality of the person, power, and presence of the risen Savior reigning among us, brings a measure of hope and healing to other nations across the globe.

I see an incoming tide as an American CHRIST Awakening does not stop at our borders. Instead, it deepens in all our lives, extending the good news to other peoples of the earth and strengthening the work of the Gospel through the worldwide Church serving in every nation.

What are your views
about the prospects for America?

Do you see, as I do, wave upon wave of a spiritual revolution coming toward us from the throne of heaven? Even now, can you sense it starting to wash further up the shore, bringing with each wave the promise of a Christward renaissance that will redefine the moral core of our nation? Are you ready to be washed with the waves of God’s truth, righteousness, mercy, and salvation destined to become the very rebirth of our nation?

Absurd? Unrealistic? Pure fantasy?

I’m sure that’s how this vision for America seems to many, at least at this moment—maybe even to you. I totally understand.

The fact is, if it weren’t for the inescapable conviction deep within my soul, I would react the same way. But for me, there’s no escaping what I believe is the Spirit’s witness to all that I’m writing here.

Above all, here’s the one other thing I can’t deny:

For me, this “prediction”—that the hour has come for the incoming tide—resides entirely within the realm of possibility because of one incomparable truth that’s repeated throughout Scripture but summed up nicely in this verse from Ephesians 3:

Now glory be to God, who by his mighty power at work within us is able to do far more than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of—infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, or hopes (v. 20, TLB, emphasis added).

So then, filled with this kind of abounding hope in God, I invite you to step away from the skeptics.

Join me as we focus our praises on the one who brings miracles to pass! As the next verse says:

May he be given glory forever and ever through endless ages because of his master plan of salvation for the Church through Jesus Christ (v. 21, TLB, emphases added).

“Which way the tide?”

At one time, all that question meant to me was the title and theme of a winning oration delivered decades ago.

That was when its probing was first raised by a much younger David Bryant. At that point, I had no good answers—just the question … and the need to sound its alert, its warning, its apprehension.

And so, for most of my life, the alarm has continued to haunt me:

• Will America rise or fall?
• Morally and spiritually, will our nation be renewed and brought into a brand-new day—into a NEW American Revolution?
• Or will it recede into some twilight zone of the great civilizations of history?
• Ultimately, will the tide go out?
• Or will it come in for us in the form of another great awakening—this time as a full-orbed American CHRIST Awakening?

But I’m haunted by my question no longer.

I’m at peace. I have the answer to my question.

And it thrills my soul with eager anticipation!

Let me reinforce these few “prophetic snapshots” with the words of the prophet Habakkuk, which are fulfilled today in our Lord Jesus Christ, even as they are filled full of him.

Here is the core renewal just waiting for our nation to discover at our 250th year.

This is my paraphrase of its mighty promise:

Has not the Lord of Heaven’s Armies declared
that the wealth of nations will turn out to be worthless
compared to what is coming? …

For as the waters cover the seas,
even so, life in America is about to become saturated
with a God-given, intimate experience of
the saving greatness and glory of God’s Son.

Therefore, the hour has come for all our people
to fall silent in awe, in faith, in anticipation,
and in full surrender toward him.

(Paraphrase of Habakkuk 2:13-14, 20)

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VIEW/LISTEN to David present this message in a creative video clip, Episode #49, of the long-running series of videos for The Hour Has Come. You can do so here.