What do you expect would happen if you declared that to about 3,000 people who paid from 500 to 2,000 Baht for a seat… people who got to the venue before opening time and were told that the concert would start at 7 PM... who drove about an hour through the afternoon traffic rush with hopes of catching one of present-day Christendom’s most sought after praise and worship teams?
Discouragement and anger would be appropriate responses to the startling and unexpected announcement, and a rush to the cashiers for a quick refund and a raucous exit may have been a predictable scenario. My friends, surprisingly these consequences didn’t happen at all.
Who could repair a damaged concert system that occurred just when the doors of the gym were to open? How could a concert succeed without the sounds and computer system? By all human standards this concert should be cancelled, and that was what the management did.
Christians know by heart what Jesus said – “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world,” The disappointment that afternoon took into consideration the “trouble” that we were in, but yet the declaration - “I have overcome the world,” had the golden opportunity to be proven, and this was an opportune chance to prove Jesus’ statement.
Another sinister twist in this event was the conceivable crusade of the forces of darkness to derail the concert and prevent us from praising our God and uniting in his spirit. Spiritual warfare is one of the most formidable of the Christians roles in this life and we realized that we had a fight on hand.
When the management noted that the people were not leaving they changed their mind and said that they will attempt to repair the glitch. So while they worked on the system inside the gym, the crowd outside separated in groups and spent the two hours in prayer, soul searching, and then worshiped right at the steps of the venue.
Later God provided song and prayer leaders to rally the throng in a cappella praise and supplication and when finally the doors were opened we were primed and ready to move to a higher level of worship with the Hillsong United team on stage.
It is without doubt that God was in our midst through this trial and eventual triumph. Nothing is sweeter than this.
