The Test of a True Revival -- Joy and Delight in God
T. H. Darlow. Psalm 85:6 Will you not revive us again: that your people may rejoice in you? Pardon and quickening are joined together in ver. 5. We beseech the Lord and Giver of Life to revive among us that life of the spirit which grows stifled, and choked, and deadened by the pressure of the world. Nothing gives thoughtful Englishmen graver concern than the decay of high ideals, alike in the politics and the literature of the nation. And in the Church itself, while we raise great sums of money, do we not grow painfully aware of a certain dearth and poverty of spiritual passion, which can only be re-inspired and rekindled from above? "Wilt Thou not revive us again, that Thy people may rejoice in Thee?" Note this searching test of a real revival: it fills Christians with a new joy and delight in God Himself. As the Holy Ghost comes upon us and the power of the Highest overshadows us, the Church breaks out in a fresh "Magnificat," and sings, "My spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour." And the Church becomes the irresistible missionary when it can chant that victorious song. (T. H. Darlow.) Parallel Verses KJV: Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee? WEB: Won't you revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?