"For thus says the One Who is high and lifted up, Who inhabits eternity, Whose name is Holy: "I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite."
Isaiah 57:15
Revival, the renewal of spiritual life, comes from God. God alone creates life. Only He creates spiritual life in us by the new birth, when we come to trust in Jesus. Only He can renew that life within us when we grow tired or stumble in the way or get off track spiritually.
We are praying for a revival, a Great Awakening to spiritual life in our country, that will sweep over the nation and set the cultural tone for a generation to come. Nothing else can stop the moral slide into confusion and darkness that has infiltrated our schools, our courtrooms, our communications media, and our government, and our lives.
This verse of Scripture gives us the roadmap to such a revival. God, the Holy One, Who dwells in the highest heaven, also dwells with the people who are of a contrite and lowly spirit, with the purpose of bringing a spiritual revival there.
“Contrite” means to be truly sorrowful for our sin; to genuinely feel worn down and oppressed by by the burden of sin and regret having been involved in it.
“Lowly” means exactly what it sounds like: humble, squashed, downtrodden; at the bottom of our resources; desperately out of options; broken-hearted.
When we reach a point of real brokenness and genuine sorrow over our own part in what’s happening in our country and cry out to God from a heart of true repentance, then the revival can and will begin.
"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise." (Psalm 51:17)
May God bring us to that place soon, before it’s too late.
Lord, You alone know how much I myself have contributed to the sin and degradation that permeates my nation. My own attitudes, my inner thoughts and behavior that no one else knows are not pure before You. Give me a heart of true contrition, a genuine sorrow for my own sin and one that is horrified by evil rather than entertained by it. Lord, we have hit the bottom. Holy Spirit, bring the renewal of spiritual life that only You can bring. Start with my own heart, with a spirit of true repentance. Deliver us, as only You can, in Jesus’ name.
Pastor Dan Giles