Revive Me, O Lord

Friends,

As I’ve worked through Resh this morning, I keep coming back to one repeated prayer: “Give me life” (vs 154, 156, 159). The psalmist says it three times in eight verses so it must be important. The psalmist is afflicted (153). He needs someone to plead his cause (154). He is

surrounded by “many” persecutors and adversaries (157). He lives among people who have walked away from God’s Word (158). And right in the middle of all of that, he keeps praying, “Give me life.”

I think that’s the great lesson of Resh. Sometimes what we need most isn’t for God to change everything around us. We need God to keep doing something within us. We need Him to give us life.

And I especially love what the psalmist attaches to that prayer. “Give me life according to your promise” (154). “Give me life according to your rules” (156). “Give me life, O LORD,

according to your steadfast love” (159). His hope for life rests in what God has promised, what God has said, and who God is. It is, just as Peter recognized, only Jesus has the words of life (John 6:68), and He’s come to give us life (John 10:10). And not just any life; abundant and eternal life.

That’s important because life can drain the life out of us, can’t it? Affliction can wear us down. Opposition can exhaust us. Disappointment can discourage us. Sometimes we aren’t

asking God for some spectacular experience. We’re simply saying, “Lord, I need You to put

some life back into me.” I’ve prayed that prayer. So have you. I think that’s the key to this stanza, and I hope God answers the psalmist’s prayer in us.

I’m going to spend a bit of time this week studying that word, “life,” because I think it’s

not only key to this stanza but to Psalm 119, the blessed life and the message of Christianity.

But, researching this morning, here’s what I know so far.

The Hebrew word translated “give me life” is ַחֵּיִני (ḥayyēnî), from the verb ָחיָה (ḥāyâ), “to live.” The word carries more weight than simply staying alive or continuing to breathe. It can mean to preserve life, restore life, revive, renew, and cause someone to flourish again. I like that.

The point is that the psalmist is asking God to breathe vitality back into a life that trouble has

drained. “Revive me. Restore me. Make me alive again,” he says three times in the phrae, “Give me life” (vs 154, 156, 159). And each time he says it, he’s reaching for the source of that life in God himself. Oh my. That is rich. He cries, “Give me life according to your promise. Give me life according to your judgments. Give me life according to your steadfast love.” He isn’t merely asking God to keep his heart beating. He is asking God to restore the fullness of life that

suffering threatens to take away and the fullness of life that only God can give. That’s the richness of ַחֵּיִני. When life has been diminished by sorrow, opposition, fear, or exhaustion, the God who gave us life in the first place can give life to us again. Well, that’s all on that for now. I could spend hours studying it…and hope to, all for you to know and have this life only God can give us.

In the interim, I’m using this outline to study Resh this week.

Big Idea: When life drains us, we can ask God to give us life according to His promise, His Word, and His steadfast love.

First: Give Me Life When I Am Afflicted (vs 153–154)



There’s something very personal about that request. He wants God to look at him. Of course, the psalmist knows God sees everything. He’s asking for more than divine observation. He’s asking God to see his suffering with concern and to act on his behalf.

Then his language becomes almost courtroom language: “Plead my cause and redeem me” (154). I love that. He knows there are things only God can do, and in this case, he needs someone to take his case. He needs an advocate. He needs a redeemer. Well, let’s talk bout Jesus!

And then comes the first great prayer of the stanza: “give me life according to your promise!” Notice that he doesn’t say, “Give me the life I want.” He says, “Give me life according to your promise.” God’s promise defines the life for which he is praying.

That’s an important distinction for you and me. Sometimes we imagine that life would be better if God would simply arrange our lives the way we want them. Last night I sat with a group of friends, and we asked each other, “If money were no object, what would you buy?” I won’t

tell you my answer. But we’ve all lived long enough to know that we know better than to try to create a life on our own. What we really need is the life that comes from God.

Second: Give Me Life When I Am Surrounded (vs 155–158)

Now, the psalmist looks around and sees people moving farther and farther away from God. “Salvation is far from the wicked, for they do not seek your statutes” (155). Then he looks at his own situation and says, “Many are my persecutors and my adversaries” (157). I suspect the word “many” matters. Sometimes it seems like there are more things against us than for us. More problems than solutions. More questions than answers. More people opposing than encouraging. Many things, not just one, are draining our lives. The psalmist knows that feeling.

But look at what comes between vs 155 and 157: “Great is your mercy, O LORD; give me life according to your rules” (156). The wicked may be far from salvation, but God’s mercy is great. His persecutors may be many, but God’s mercy is greater. It always is! (And God’s mercy is another essential study for us). Because God’s mercy is great, the psalmist refuses to allow the people around him to determine the direction of his life, which in turn, defines the wellness of his life. “Many are my persecutors and my adversaries, but I do not swerve from your testimonies” (157).

That’s a word for us. You and I don’t get to choose every voice around us. We do get to choose which voice controls our hearts and minds and directs us and that is so important. The psalmist sees people abandoning God’s commands, and it grieves him (158), but their

faithlessness doesn’t become his faithlessness. He stays with God’s Word.

Third: Give Me Life Because You Love Me (vs 159–160)

Then we come to the third prayer. “Consider how I love your precepts! Give me life, O

LORD, according to your steadfast love” (159). That last phrase may be the sweetest of the

three. He has appealed to God’s promise. He has appealed to God’s rules. Now, once again, as he has throughout the psalm, he appeals to God’s steadfast love.

By now, you know the Hebrew word behind “steadfast love” is that wonderful Old

Testament word hesed. It speaks of God’s faithful, covenant love. His love isn’t moody. It

doesn’t disappear when circumstances become difficult. God doesn’t love us more on our good days and less on our bad ones. His steadfast love is rooted in His own faithful character, a character that is life itself. So when the psalmist feels the life being squeezed out of him, he looks away from himself and toward the steadfast love of God: “Give me life, O LORD, according to your steadfast love.” You and I need to learn that prayer and then depend on that prayer. God gives us life because of Who He is, not because of who we are or our behavior.

And then Resh ends by giving us solid ground beneath our feet: “The sum of your word is

truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever” (160). Wow, Three big words in this stanza: life, mercy and truth, all undergirded by God’s hesed love. There’s no way we can fully study this stanza in one week. But, back to the point of this section. Circumstances change.

People change. Feelings change. Strength changes. Seasons of life change. But God’s Word is truth, and His righteous rules endure forever. There’s our anchor again.

And here is where the gospel meets us. The courtroom language of v 154 points us toward something wonderful: “Plead my cause and redeem me.” Friends, you and I both know that “We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1). Jesus has taken up our cause in a way the psalmist could only anticipate. He redeemed us through His own blood (Ephesians 1:7), rose from the dead, and gives eternal life to everyone who trusts Him.

So I think the movement of Resh can be remembered very simply: When you’re afflicted, ask God for life. When you’re surrounded, ask God for life. When you’re weary, ask God for life. Life. Life. Life. The Blessed life. That’s what we’re after. That’s what God promises. That’s what God gives.

Maybe that’s where some of us are right now. We love God. We love His Word. We haven’t abandoned His testimonies. We’re just tired. We’re worn out. Life and all its complicated circumstances have drained the life out of us. And sometimes the most spiritual

prayer we can pray isn’t very complicated at all. It’s just, “Give me life, O LORD, according to your steadfast love.” Let’s pray that prayer throughout this week and trust God will give us life. Then, let’s come together Sunday morning asking God to breathe life into his preached Word. I need it as much as you do. After all, Adam was just a lump of clay until God breathed life into him.

Thank you, my dear friends, you wonderful CG leaders, for loving Jesus, loving Heritage, and faithfully shepherding your CG. My prayer is that we will all and each learn to go to our life- giving God when life drains us, confident in His promise, anchored in His Word, and resting in His steadfast love.

Well, that’s “The View from My Study” for this Monday, September 21^st. For the blessed life,

Pastor Reggie