Dave spoke again on the subject of revival, something the church desperately needs. Revival sees an increase in the spiritual life of God’s people and leads to the salvation of many, but the key factor in revival is God’s presence, which seems to fall in a fresh and awesome way.
Is 57:15 talks of two key aspects found in every revival. God is the ‘high and exalted One’ who lives in a high and holy place. In revival, there is a reaching high towards God. We become dissatisfied with where we are in God and yearn for more. There is always a sense of repentance and confession; as Brian Edwards says, ‘We often have a tinted view of revival as a time of glory and joy and swelling numbers queuing to enter the churches. That is only part of the story. Before the glory and joy, there is conviction; and that begins with the people of God. There are tears of godly sorrow. There are wrongs to put right, secret things…to be thrown out, and bad relationships, hidden for years, to be repaired openly. If we are not prepared for this, we had better not pray for revival.’
Often, we want things and blessings more than we want God. If we are to see revival come, we must pray for it and long for God to come down among us (see Is 64:1) Duncan Campbell once said that ‘revival is a community of people saturated by God’, and it is this sense of reaching high for God Himself – for someone, not something – that is so necessary.
Revival also involves bowing low, however. There has to be repentance, contrition and brokenness: the God who lives in a high and holy place also lives with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit. So often, instead of coming before God in brokenness and repentance, we are complacent, satisfied with the status quo and content to treat God like a slot machine who answers our prayers by doling out blessings. We can take God for granted, but if we are to see revivals like those recorded in history, we have to be prepared to seek God fervently and without ceasing, stretching like elastic. Without this hunger for God, manifested in committed prayer, we will not see revival.
