Revive Us Again
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As we celebrate 250 years of freedom as a nation this weekend, we recognize that the greatest need of every nation—including our own—is the gracious favor of God.
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We need revival!
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Here in America, God has repeatedly visited His people with seasons of extraordinary spiritual renewal—from the First Great Awakening to the Prayer Revival of 1857, to countless local awakenings throughout our nation’s history.
Those movements remind us that spiritual renewal is possible because God has done it before.
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Yet, for all of these revivals and awakenings, we recognize we are at a very low ebb spiritually.
The decadence and moral decline … in our nation and even in the Church … is appalling.
So with the psalmist who wrote the song we will consider this evening, we cry out “Revive Us Again!”
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.
Lord, you were favorable to your land;
you restored the fortunes of Jacob.
You forgave the iniquity of your people;
you covered all their sin. Selah
You withdrew all your wrath;
you turned from your hot anger.
Restore us again, O God of our salvation,
and put away your indignation toward us!
Will you be angry with us forever?
Will you prolong your anger to all generations?
Will you not revive us again,
that your people may rejoice in you?
Show us your steadfast love, O Lord,
and grant us your salvation.
Let me hear what God the Lord will speak,
for he will speak peace to his people, to his saints;
but let them not turn back to folly.
Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him,
that glory may dwell in our land.
Steadfast love and faithfulness meet;
righteousness and peace kiss each other.
Faithfulness springs up from the ground,
and righteousness looks down from the sky.
Yes, the Lord will give what is good,
and our land will yield its increase.
Righteousness will go before him
and make his footsteps a way.
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The historical setting of Psalm 85 is not definite. However, the ESV obscures a clue that the KJV and other versions make more obvious. In verse 1 the restoration of fortunes seems to be referring to bringing back the people from captivity.
In fact…
The idiomatic expression “restore the fortunes” includes the concept of a release from imprisonment or debt combined with the return of the Lord’s people to their homeland …. As a key word of the psalm, the root shuv (“turn,” “return,” “restore”) occurs five times (Ps 85:1, 3, 4, 6, 8).
Klouda, S. L., & Warstler, K. R. (2015). Psalms. In E. R. Clendenen & J. R. Howard (Eds.), Holman Illustrated Bible Commentary (p. 605). Broadman & Holman.
The use of this phrase and its repetition in the psalm suggests this song may have been written in the context of the Jews who had been allowed to return to Judea after their captivity in Babylon.
About 50 years after Jerusalem’s fall in 586 b.c., the king of Persia permitted the exiles to return home. With great joy and optimism they made the journey and began to rebuild. Before long, however, they realized that Israel would not regain its former greatness and their optimism faded (see Ezra 3:11–12). It was most likely during this time of disillusionment that Psalm 85 was written.
Lennox, S. J. (1999). Psalms: a Bible commentary in the Wesleyan tradition (p. 263). Wesleyan Publishing House.
Zerubbabel led the first wave of Jewish exiles back to Judea in 536 B.C.
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Ninety year later … 90!!! … Nehemiah was serving as cupbearer to the Persian king when his brothers returned with a disastrous report about life in Judah.
And they said to me, “The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire.”
Again, we don’t know the exact historical setting of this psalm, but consider that it may have been written in this timeframe. The psalmist poured out his heart to God in lament. Things looked bleak, but he had confidence in God Almighty.
As we consider this scripture, we find this essential truth.
Big Idea: God's grace gives us confidence in praying for revival.
Big Idea: God's grace gives us confidence in praying for revival.
How does God’s grace give us confidence in praying for revival?
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First, we can pray with confidence as we…
1. Remember God's past dealings, vv. 1-3
1. Remember God's past dealings, vv. 1-3
Let’s assume the psalmist was writing as one of the exiles who had returned to Judah. Listen as he prays…
Lord, you were favorable to your land;
you restored the fortunes of Jacob.
You forgave the iniquity of your people;
you covered all their sin. Selah
You withdrew all your wrath;
you turned from your hot anger.
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Truly, God was so good to the people. They had been uprooted violently from their homeland. This once proud nation that saw the world coming to pay their respects under the great King Solomon had been reduced to nearly nothing.
The population that was deported to Babylon was almost nothing in comparison to the glory days of the past.
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God had been so angry and disgusted by their vile sin that he had cast them out of His presence.
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But then God remembered his people and made a way for them to go back home.
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He forgave their sin. He covered it over. He withdrew his wrath.
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THIS is the grace of God!
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Yes, our sin separates us from God. But God’s character of love is so great that He offers grace to those who repent.
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No, it doesn’t make sense.
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We simply call it “Amazing Grace.”
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How does God’s grace give us confidence in praying for revival?
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Second, we can pray with confidence as we…
2. Request God's renewed pleasure, vv. 4-7
2. Request God's renewed pleasure, vv. 4-7
These verses are the lament part of the psalm - the complaint.
Restore us again, O God of our salvation,
and put away your indignation toward us!
Will you be angry with us forever?
Will you prolong your anger to all generations?
Yet even though the psalmist may seem to despair, he did pray with hope. He knew God is a God of steadfast love and righteousness. He knew God’s promises to His people - promises of judgment if they sinned, yet promises that they were His people.
So he questioned, he even challenged, God, saying…
Will you not revive us again,
that your people may rejoice in you?
Show us your steadfast love, O Lord,
and grant us your salvation.
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We should never excuse the awfulness of sin. We should not make light of how angry God becomes when His people willfuly transgress His laws and do what is evil.
Isaiah wrote…
but your iniquities have made a separation
between you and your God,
and your sins have hidden his face from you
so that he does not hear.
Jeremiah chimed in…
The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it?
James shows us the progression from our sinful nature’s inclination to sin to the act of sin to the result of sin, which is death.
But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.
Our standing before God is dire. But God loves us. And so Paul wrote:
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And John emphatically stated…
In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
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Even in our deepest despair due to the consequences of sin, we can look to Jesus, repent of our sin, and trust Him for restoration - salvation - revival!
How does God’s grace give us confidence in praying for revival?
(pause)
Third, we can pray with confidence as we…
3. Refocus on God's purpose, vv. 8-9
3. Refocus on God's purpose, vv. 8-9
The psalmist had poured out his heart to God in verses 1-7. He remembered how God had been good to his people. He expressed his complaint about the people’s distress and appealed to God for revival.
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Now in verse 8, he stopped.
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Revival would not come by his efforts.
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Revival comes from God.
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Let me hear what God the Lord will speak,
for he will speak peace to his people, to his saints;
but let them not turn back to folly.
Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him,
that glory may dwell in our land.
Knowing the character of God, the psalmist confidently expressed his hope that God would speak peace to his people. God would forgive. God would heal. God would restore. God would provide.
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The psalmist stopped talking.
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Maybe we should do the same.
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So often when we seek revival we begin with speaking - preaching, praying, singing. Maybe we need to stop… and simply listen to God will say to us.
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While revival truly comes because of God, not because of our desire, our intention or efforts, we do have a responsibility.
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We must not be STUPID!
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More diplomatically put, we must not turn back to sin or the world anymore.
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If God is going to be gracious and forgive us and bring revival to us, does it make any sense for us to continue thinking, speaking, and acting in the same sinful, selfish ways that resulted in that distance from God in the first place?
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But note the purpose of God in verse 9.
Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him,
that glory may dwell in our land.
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God’s purpose in all of his dealings with humanity is to display His glory.
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He created our world in a display of His glory, merely speaking words and things appeared, were organized, and lived.
He designed humanity with free will for His glory, giving us the ability to choose to honor him or to go our own way.
Knowing that we would sin, God set in motion a plan before the beginning of time in which he would progressively reveal himself to humanity, especially through a chosen people through which He would send His only Son to become flesh, to live among us, to suffer and then die in our place, taking our sin upon himself.
Then, God’s Son would rise from the dead on the third day, victorious over sin and death, and by his death and resurrection offer us forgiving, cleansing grace and eternal life through Him.
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As we seek revival, we should thus refocus our lives on God’s purpose.
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It’s not about us!
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God is not working in us and through us to accomplish our little plans and projects. God is working for His glory. Thus, if we desire to see revival, we must seek His will and His glory.
The purpose of God and of revival is about so much more than growing our church or saving our nation or even rescuing a loved one from their downward spiral of sin.
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Yes, revival can accomplish all that, but revival is about God’s glory, not our plans!
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How does God’s grace give us confidence in praying for revival?
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Fourth, we can pray with confidence as we…
4. Rest in God's provision, vv. 10-13.
4. Rest in God's provision, vv. 10-13.
Knowing the character of God, the goodness of God, the psalmist then wrote these beautiful words:
Steadfast love and faithfulness meet;
righteousness and peace kiss each other.
Faithfulness springs up from the ground,
and righteousness looks down from the sky.
Yes, the Lord will give what is good,
and our land will yield its increase.
Righteousness will go before him
and make his footsteps a way.
Can you picture it? God’s grace and God’s faithfulness meet and hold hands together. God’s righteousness and peace kiss like two passionate people in love.
God’s holiness and righteousness is so much greater than us - above and beyond us. We see God’s faithfulness most in very practical, down to earth ways - the rain, bountiful harvests, the changing of the seasons.
God’s righteousness comes down from the sky and God’s faithfulness springs up from the ground.
And so God gives us what is good.
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Notice… it is the character of God that we see at work. It is God’s love, God’s faithfulness, God’s righteousness, God’s peace.
Ultimately, these beautiful words find their fullest expression in Jesus Christ. At the cross, God’s steadfast love and faithfulness met perfectly.
His righteousness was fully satisfied, and through Christ we now have peace with God. Justice and mercy were not competing at Calvary—they embraced.
Psalm 85 points us ultimately to the Savior, where God’s grace and God’s holiness are seen in perfect harmony.
We can rest. This is not to say that we have no role in revival, but ultimately, our spiritual renewal is not a matter of our works, but of our trust in God’s provision, God’s grace.
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Big Idea: God's grace gives us confidence in praying for revival.
Big Idea: God's grace gives us confidence in praying for revival.
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As we celebrate 250 years of our nation this weekend, we recognize our great need for spiritual awakening and revival in our land.
In the book Enjoying Intimacy with God, we read…
Dr. J. Elder Cumming contended that "in almost every case the beginning of new blessing is a new revelation of the character of God--more beautiful, more wonderful, more precious."
J.O. Sanders, Enjoying Intimacy with God, Moody, p. 14.
Robert Coleman wrote…
Revival is that sovereign work of God in which He visits His own people, restoring and releasing them into the fullness of His blessing.
Robert Coleman.
G. Campbell Morgan said…
Revival cannot be organized, but we can set our sails to catch the wind from heaven when God chooses to blow upon His people once again.
G. Campbell Morgan.
And as remember how God has worked in the past and consider his glory and his character, we can pray with confidence knowing that God hears and answers the prayers of His people as they turn to him.
The God who restored Israel…
the God who forgives sinners…
the God who raised Jesus from the dead…
is able to revive His church again.
Let us then pray, seeking God’s favor. Let us pray with honesty and humility. Let us pray persistently. Let us pray with confident faith.
Lord Jesus, REVIVE US AGAIN!
