Yearning for Revival

"As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God" (Ps. 42:1, ESV).

What a picture. The Psalmist expresses the intense longing of his soul by comparing it to the deer's panting. The image captures how close the author is to fainting. He needs it. He is searching for it. He can't go much farther. But it isn't water that he seeks with desperation--it's the Lord. He wonders, "When shall I come and appear before God?" (Ps. 42:2).

Whatever the cause, this man is disheartened. He has lost his joy and zeal for the Lord. Once a fervent worshiper, he can no longer join with the enthusiastic worshipers. He feels isolated and alone. He wonders if God has forgotten him. He is surrounded by naysayers who ridicule his God, and he is beginning to wonder if they are right. Has God really abandoned him?

Almost as quickly as the questions arise, he replies to himself, "Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?" (Ps. 42:5, ESV). Speaking to his inner man, the Psalmist demands to know what right his soul has to despair. Why this sad state of affairs? Can you not remember the faithfulness of the Lord? He then turns and gives the command: "Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God" (Ps. 42:5-6).

His mind is set, even if his heart is a bit shaky. He will continue seek the Lord, trusting in his faithful loving kindness, until the Lord arrives. This psalm so richly demonstrates the kind of heart that experience revival. Revival usually doesn't come to the complacent and apathetic. Often, it is the complacent and apathetic that zealously rage against revival as it is beginning to take shape.

The work of revival often begins with a holy discontent. Moral decay in society (and sometimes within the church) cause people to start asking questions. Troublesome circumstances add to the turmoil. Through these difficulties the Lord begins to work a desire for his word. The Spirit awakens people to the weakness and shallowness of their faith. As they study the Word, they become discontent with the way things are in their lives. They begin to yearn for cleanse and renewal. The Lord moves them to search for him through prayer and Bible study. He pushes them to endure until the blessing comes, and when it comes it flows over from their lives into the lives of others. Thus, revival is often a long process, whereby God brings his people to hate their sin and to cling more closely to him. It is often comes after long anticipation and with much pain.

A former pastor of mine once told me the story of a preacher who drew a circle on the floor around himself. After he was finished drawing the circle he prayed, "Lord, send revival within this circle." I understood him to be saying, rightly, that we must desire to be changed, in order to see change around us. However, revival doesn't happen in a vacuum. We cannot experience revival apart from the people of God, at least not in the fullest sense. If one is revived, it is for the stirring of others. He wants all of his people passionately serving him in faithful obedience.