“Wilt Thou not revive us again, Thy people may rejoice in Thee.” Psalm 85:6
Please note that it is not “Will He?” but with a clarion blast it rings out: “Will He not!”
In this regard keep this verse in mind “He that spared not His own Son but delivered us up for us all, HOW SHALL HE NOT with Him also freely give us all things?”
The beginning of a divine movement is like the youth-time of life. There is a freshness and buoyancy, an energy, an enthusiasm as we are swept along on the crest of the wave.
Psalm 114 describes this blessed condition. “When Israel came out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of a strange language. The sea saw it and fled: Jordan was driven back. The mountains skipped like rams – and the little hills like lambs. The very rock was turned into standing water, and the flint into a fountain of water.
The cause for all this rejoicing was because – Judah was His sanctuary, and Israel His dominion.
This was our experience when we first came to know the Lord. “Joy unspeakable and full of glory.”
The lukewarm way the truth is being held today, presents a sorrowful outlook for the future. God cannot bless when He is sick of the conduct of His people.
It is in the “midst of the years” that revival is so much needed. (Hab. 3) The energy and the enthusiasm of youth has given place to the static conditions of middle age. The sails of service hang lifeless on the ringing. There is not a motion in the air, or a ripple on the surface of the vast ocean or sin. Our gallant vessel that started out so promisingly now lies becalmed. Oh for a wind from the shores or eternity, oh for a divine touch from the everlasting hills. “Revive Thy work in the midst of the years.”
God is able to revive us in the midst of declension, even though it thunders loud and long, even if there is trouble in the political or social spheres, in business, the family or church. Even though the waves and the sea are roaring, and men’s hearts are failing them for fear, God is able to revive us.
The Lord has said that He will heal their backsliding; not only blotting out their sin, but healing the wound it has made.