"He is Faithful that Promised." "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint." -- ISAIAH xl.31. Reviving Grace. "Wilt thou not revive us, O Lord?" My soul! art thou conscious of thy declining state? Is thy walk less with God, thy frame less heavenly? Hast thou less conscious nearness to the mercy-seat, -- diminished communion with thy Saviour? Is prayer less a privilege than it has been? -- the pulsations of spiritual life more languid, and fitful, and spasmodic? -- the bread of life less relished? -- the seen, and the temporal, and the tangible, displacing the unseen and eternal? Art thou sinking down into this state of drowsy self-contentment, this conformity-life with the world, forfeiting all the happiness of true religion, and risking and endangering the better life to come? Arise! call upon thy God! "Wilt thou not revive us, O Lord?" He might have returned nothing but the withering repulse, "How often would I have gathered thee; but thou wouldst not!" "Ephraim is joined to his idols; let him alone!" But "in wrath He remembers mercy." "They shall revive as the corn." "The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." How and where is reviving grace to be found? He gives thee, in this precious promise, the key. It is on thy bended knees -- by a return to thy deserted and unfrequented chamber! "They that wait upon the Lord!" "Wait on the Lord; be of good cheer, and He shall strengthen thine heart; wait, I say, on the Lord!" "REMEMBER THIS WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON |
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