Revive Us

 “Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me; You will stretch forth Your hand against the wrath of my enemies, and Your right hand will save me.”  ~Psalm 138:7

            Lately I’ve been asking this particular question a lot, “When will things go back to normal?” I think it’s a common question to ask when we’re in the middle of difficult circumstances. This verse from Psalms offers us a response, though it might not be the answer we’re hoping for. In Psalm 138:7, God promises to revive us. Revive means “to regain life, consciousness, or strength… that may not sound like an answer to the question we’ve asked, but it is!

            Let’s break this verse down to get to what it is saying. First, “though I walk in the midst of trouble…” provides the timing in which God is acting. God is promising to meet us in the middle of our trouble, not the beginning, and not the end. This is usually when we are at our most distraught. Sometimes we get so excited to see the end of our problems, and “return to normal,” that we try to skip over the uncomfortable part of actually being in it.

Personally, I love action movies, but I hate violence and war! If I can, I will skip over the battle scenes in a movie to get to the happy ending. We often ask God to do the same thing… to rescue us from the scary things. And that’s not bad! That’s a natural part of human desire. But sometimes we need to learn something from the struggle.

            The second half of this verse says, God “stretches forth his hand against the wrath of my enemies. Your right hand will save me.” In this verse, an image is being portrayed for us. When I read it, this is what I see…

            Picture this: you’re in an epic Lord of the Rings worthy battle scene. You’re dirty, tired, exhausted, wounded, and just can’t do it anymore. The enemy gets the advantage. You go down. It’s all about to be over. But GOD shows up in the middle of the heat of battle. And He’s HUGE! Much larger than any human. His presence dominates the battlefield. What does He do? He could stop the battle in an instant and it would all be over. But He doesn’t. Instead, He physically positions himself between you and the soldier about to take you out. He puts his left hand up to hold the enemy back. His right hand extends out to you; it’s an offer of help. You grasp the extended hand and rise up.

            What does this verse NOT say? It never says he stops the battle. The picture of holding a hand out against the enemy implies He’s holding them back, not defeating them. The fact that His left hand holds back the enemy while His right hand reaches out to offer help, indicates His priority. Culturally, the right hand is the hand of favor. By specifying that the right hand extends help, shows us the primary action in this image... to offer respite. While the enemy is held back, that is not the primary objective here!

            This verse doesn’t allow us to see the happy ending; it’s focused in the middle. It doesn’t let us skip over the gory parts to get to the victory. Instead the promise in this verse is that He will REVIVE us… give us life, consciousness, & strength. Does God save us, YES, absolutely! But in this verse, that’s not the main objective. The main action here is to revive us while we are in the middle of the moment.

            Is anyone else tired, exhausted, and feel like they just can’t do it anymore? I know I am! This verse gives us three actions, we can take. 

• First, let God meet you in that place. Don’t try to skip over the difficult parts, but meet God in the middle of them. 
• Second, allow Him to revive you! He is offering his extended hand out to you. Choose to take it! 
• Third, once you’re filled up again with life and strength, get back in there. The battle isn’t over yet. 

            We are promised that the battle is the Lords… but WE are the Lord’s army. We will have the victory in the Lord’s name, but first we must choose to FIGHT.