READ Psalm 80:14–19. 14 Return to us, God Almighty! Look down from heaven and see! Watch over this vine, 15 the root your right hand has planted, the son you have raised up for yourself. 16 Your vine is cut down, it is burned with fire; at your rebuke your people perish. 17 Let your hand rest on the man at your right hand, the son of man you have raised up for yourself. 18 Then we will not turn away from you; revive us, and we will call on your name. 19 Restore us, LORD God Almighty; make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved.
REVIVAL. How does spiritual renewal take place? Each time God is called upon (verses 3, 7, and 19) the divine name is fuller, showing a constantly growing crescendo of prayer. Renewal also requires repentance, a turning back to God (verses 18–19). Finally spiritual revival requires “the man at your right hand” (literally, the Benjamin, verse 17). In the history of the revivals of the church, God often chose to work through a dynamic, anointed leader. But Jesus is the true Benjamin, the one who gives full access to the presence of God (Ephesians 2:18). And Jesus is the true vine (John 15:1–6). Only through uniting with him by faith can we become branches and have God’s life flow into us. Through him we can be revived.
Prayer: “O Jesus, make thyself to me, a living, bright reality. More present to Faith’s vision keen than any outward object seen. More near, more intimately nigh, than e’en the sweetest earthly tie.”77 Amen.