“The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving our soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart, the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening our eyes; the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.” Psalm 19:7-9
Revival has been the prayer of the church for decades now. We have seen pockets of revival over the last few decades but not an AWAKENING kind of revival of years past. The question is why are we not seeing a massive movement of revival today? The answer I believe is right before us in scripture. In Psalm 19, David writes about the Law of the LORD being perfect and the thing that brings revival to our soul. I believe even as we pray, we often abandon the law of the LORD for our own personal desires. We seek to see revival in the way that we want, which is not how revival works. Over the next few paragraphs, I want to look at these 3 short verses and unpack what I believe is key to revival.
In these 3 verses we find 5 statements about the LORD, that I believe are important to grasp and to hold onto as truth as we seek to serve and worship the LORD. The first one is “the testimony of the LORD is sure.” Think about that for a moment, the testimony that is the WORD of God is sure and it makes the wise simple. What does that mean? Well, I believe it means that the Word of God shows us the true testimony of God that all people can understand. God in creation reveals Himself to humanity, and it is when we think we are wise that we miss that testimony of God. Secondly, we find that “the precepts of the LORD are right.” Precepts are those things that are revealed to us, to help each of us understand the rules and regulations of God. When we understand what God desires of us, our hearts can rejoice. We rejoice knowing that in Christ, we can truly follow the law and instructions of the LORD. Thirdly, we see “the commandments of the LORD are pure.” God in His sovereign and holy character has commandments that are pure and holy. God cannot create a commandment that is unholy and not pure. His commandments enlighten our eyes to see as He sees sin. It is only through Christ that we can see the horrible destruction of sin. Fourthly, we see “the fear of the LORD is clean.” It is good and right to have fear of the LORD. This fear is not a trembling fear but a reverent fear. It is this kind of fear that helps us to live a clean and enduring life. In reverence we worship the LORD with all that we have and all that we are. The fifth and final thing we see here is, “the rules of the LORD are true.” Rules are the guiding principles or guard rails that we need to have holy and productive lives. It is the rules of God that show us the true road that helps us to live a righteous life.
What makes these verses most impactful is that they go against the natural desire of the human heart. The natural desire of the human heart is to play by our own rules, to make up our own commandments, to have our guidelines, to testify about our ability, and to have others fear us. All those things lead to the chaos that we have today in the world. Relative truth is what rules the day and culture that we live in. Truth is relative to the situation, culture morality, and desires of our own hearts. And when that is the reality of the life we live, then we will have the chaos that exists. The reason for this is because at the core of humanity is a sinful nature, that desires to live opposite of what is best for us. Sin corrupts the mind and blinds the eyes to the truth and revelation of God. It is only through the gospel and the movement of the Holy Spirit that our minds are open to absolute truth and our eyes are open to see the truth of chaos that exists because of sin.
In closing, revival of the heart and soul will only come, when we give up our plans, our desires, and our motives and repent and turn to God. A global revival will only happen when God’s people give up the control and desires of the heart for the truth and reality of God’s law. When that happens revival will explode in ways that only our wildest imagination could explain. If we repent and hold fast to these five things that God reveals to us through David, the world will experience an AWAKENING that will shake the foundation of Earth!
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