Revive me!: Psalm 69-Supplication through the Scriptures

Revive Me!

Psalm 69

LORD, revive Your work.
Habakkuk 3:2

For the believer, the word “revive” has a two fold meaning. In one sense, we have been revived by our Lord in that we were once “dead in our trespasses and sins” but God “made us alive together with Christ” (Ephesians 2:1,5 NASB). We were dead spiritually, but God gave us new life in Christ. He revived us by redeeming us and paying the ransom price, the debt, we owed. “The price we owe to the Lord is the price of our very lives, which we ourselves cannot pay, but Jesus paid this price in the place of all who trust in Him alone for salvation” (Tabletalk, June 2020). The second sense in which we as believers can be revived is in gaining new strength, increased vitality, to our spiritual life and walk with Christ. We must first be brought into a new life with Christ, and then the power of His Holy Spirit invigorates and revives us in an ongoing basis so that we can continually be increasing in our nearness and intimacy with the Savior.

Those who have walked with the Lord for a long enough time will understand that there are seasons where our spiritual vitality seems dimmed. Our pursuit of the Lord is waning. Perhaps we do not readily sense His presence. We open our bibles and all seems drudgery. The Lord seems silent. We feel dry spiritually. We need to be revived. 

There are also times when, because of difficulties, our hearts are languishing. We are in distress, despairing, afflicted and in pain, as David expresses in Psalm 69 (69:17, 20, 29). We feel stuck down and wounded. We, like David in Psalm 69, need to be revived. And the Lord must do the reviving. He must invigorate our souls to be refreshed and renewed in His presence. So our cry must be to Him. “Will You not Yourself revive us again that Your people may rejoice in You?” (Psalm 85:6).

Repeatedly in Psalm 119, the psalmist cries out to the Lord, “Revive me!” Revive me according to Your Word (119:25), in Your ways (37), through Your righteousness (40), according to Your lovingkindness (88). When we are in need of renewal, refreshment, and reviving, we must ask the Lord, “revive me!” 

David, in his distress, leaves us an example. He calls on the Lord to answer him in haste, to turn to him and not hide His face from him, to draw near to his soul (Psalm 69:16-18). And then he praises the Lord in song because this will please the Lord. And he says, “you who seek God, let your hearts revive. For the LORD hears the needy and does not despise his own people who are prisoners” (Psalm 69:32-33). 

Are you in need of revival? Pray to the Lord and seek Him in His Word for His reviving power until your heart is again strengthened and renewed. “You who have shown me many troubles and distresses will revive me again, and will bring me again from the depths of the earth” (Psalm 71:20). 

Pray through Psalm 69:16-36 for strength and renewal.

Daily Dagger: Revive me! (Psalm 119:25)

Make Haste to Answer Me

69:16-20 Answer me, O Lord, for your steadfast love is good; according to your abundant mercy, turn to me. Hide not your face from your servant, for I am in distress; make haste to answer me. Draw near to my soul, redeem me; ransom me because of my enemies! You know my reproach, and my shame and my dishonor; my foes are all known to you. Reproaches have broken my heart, so that I am in despair. I looked for pity, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none. 
Let’s pray:
▫️Lord, answer me in Your steadfast love, for it is good. According to Your abundant mercy, turn to me and revive me in my zeal and love for You.
▫️I am in distress, answer me in haste. I am in need of Your Spirit to renew a steadfast spirit within me and restore to me the joy of Your salvation (Psalm 51:11-12).
▫️Draw near to my soul today and rescue me from my spiritual enemies that would seek to further discourage me from seeking hard after You.
▫️Pity me, O Lord, and comfort me in this time of distress. Grant me anew a fervency for You.

You Have Wounded

69:21-28 They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink. Let their own table before them become a snare; and when they are at peace, let it become a trap. Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see, and make their loins tremble continually. Pour out your indignation upon them, and let your burning anger overtake them. May their camp be a desolation; let no one dwell in their tents. For they persecute him whom you have struck down, and they recount the pain of those you have wounded. Add to them punishment upon punishment; may they have no acquittal from you. Let them be blotted out of the book of the living; let them not be enrolled among the righteous. 
Let’s pray:
▫️Revive me according to Your Word, and may Your Word be sweeter to me than honey (Psalm 119:25, 103).
▫️Give me spiritual eyes to behold Your beauty and to see wonderful things from Your law (Psalm 27:4; 119:18).
▫️It is good for me that I have been afflicted by You that I might learn Your statutes (Psalm 119:71).

Hearts Revive

69:29-36 But I am afflicted and in pain; let your salvation, O God, set me on high! I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving. This will please the Lord more than an ox or a bull with horns and hoofs. When the humble see it they will be glad; you who seek God, let your hearts revive. For the Lord hears the needy and does not despise his own people who are prisoners. Let heaven and earth praise him, the seas and everything that moves in them. For God will save Zion and build up the cities of Judah, and people shall dwell there and possess it; the offspring of his servants shall inherit it, and those who love his name shall dwell in it.
Let’s pray:
▫️I am afflicted and in pain, and I need Your nearness. Let Your salvation, O Lord, set me securely on high.
▫️I will praise You, Lord, and magnify Your name even while I wait and long for You to revive me again and refresh my spirit. 
▫️Lord, I am seeking You and coming to You in prayer. Revive my heart, again, O Lord.
▫️I thank You, Father, that You hear the needy and You do not despise Your people who are prisoners. I will praise You even now as I wait for You.

May the Lord do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, for His glory and our good. In Jesus’ name. Amen. 

Scripture quotations are from The ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All right reserved.

Photo credit to roadtripwithraj

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