Revive Us Again

“Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?”

Psalm 85:6

As I was reading through my devotional Bible, I came upon a devotion that spoke to me about our Church situation. Read an extract below:

It happens in marriages and between friends, in families and in Churches. Love grows cold and passion fades, and what once was personal and intimate becomes rote and formal. But if even memory of what once was remains,it can be enough to spur renewal, or revival.It is especially the case with God’s people.

What is revival? The prayer itself provides the definition and the goal: “that your people may rejoice in you”. As in marriage, to be revived in faith is to be renewed in love and joy. To have a powerful faith that can move mountains and courage that will be willingly consumed by fire, but to have no love, is to have a dead religion. Far from being honoured by mere empty obedience, God is insulted. No, as John Piper says, God is glorified in us only as we are satisfied in Him.

This psalm provides a lovely picture of revival, very much in keeping with its definition: “Love and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other” (Psalm 85:10). Could anyone wish for anything more ? The quality of life takes on a kind of marital bliss, and heaven and earth meet, as “Faithfulness springs forth from the earth, and righteousness looks down from heaven”. (Verse 11 )

The history of God’s people seems to be a history of recurrent spiritual decline
( See Judges 2:10-19). That’s the bad news. The good news is that God is always ready to hear his people pray, “Will you not revive us again, that our people may rejoice in you?”