Daily Encouragementنموونە

These words have often been used in prayer for revival, and there is no revival without such prayer. “History is silent,” says J. Edwin Orr, “about any great revivals that did not begin in prayer.”

The need for revival comes home to God’s people in ways which are reflected in this chapter. The pollution of sin has affected life and worship: “all our righteous acts are like filthy rags” (verse 6). There is a lethargy about seeking God and no sense of his immediate presence: “No once calls on your name or strives to lay hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us” (verse 7).

The hope for revival ultimately rests on the fact that it comes from God (verse 4). Revival is God coming down, not men - even earnest Christian men - working it up. A consciousness of their relationship to him encourages his people to pray for this: “Yet, O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand . . . Oh, look upon us, we pray, for we are all your people” (verses 8-9).

“Desire for revival is one thing,” said Duncan Campbell; “confident anticipating that our desire will be fulfilled is another.” That is a remark that should not lead us to despair but to prayer.