July 24 Daily Devotional

Bible Verse

"My soul clings to the dust; revive me by your Word" (Ps. 119:25).

Devotional

This prayer implies what—alas!—is so needed in so many, a revival of soul. It is the Lord's putting of his hand again to the work of grace in the heart.

"When you have turned again," said our Lord to Peter, "strengthen your brethren" (Luke 22:32). What? Had not Peter already been converted? Most truly. But, even though he was a regenerate man, he had so lapsed in grace that he needed to turn again. Obviously then, our Lord's meaning is, "When you are restored, recovered, revived, then strengthen your brethren."

How many professors of Christ stand in need of a fresh filling of the Holy Spirit! Perhaps, my reader, you are one. Where is the spiritual vigor you once displayed? Where is the spiritual joy you once possessed? Where is the unclouded hope you once indulged? Where is the humble walk with God you once maintained? Where is the heavenly fragrance that once breathed around you? Alas! your soul clings to the dust; and you need the re-converting grace, the renewed filling of the Spirit. "Revive me" is your prayer.

A clearer manifestation of God's life in the soul is not the least blessing contained in this prayer for revival. How little realization enters into the religion of many! There is the full credence of the judgment to the truth; a conversing about religion, the ministry, and the church. But where is felt the realizing power, the earth-fading, heaven-attracting power of vital godliness into the soul? Dear reader, the hour that will bring your religious profession, your religious creed, your religious notions to the test is at hand; and in that awful moment the great question will be, "Am I ready to die? Am I born of the Spirit? Do I have the life of God in my soul? Do I have a living Christ in my now failing, dying heart?"

But, in view of so solemn a scene and such self-scrutiny, what a prayer this is: "Revive me, Lord. Renew your work in my soul. Strengthen that which you have worked in me. Please inspire with new life my love that hardens! Please arouse with new energy my faith that trembles! Please move with new strength my hope that ebbs! Please stimulate with new power my joy that droops! It does not matter what others think of me, Lord; you know that my soul clings to the dust. There is more of earth than of heaven in my heart; there is more of self than of Christ, more of the creature than of the Creator. O Lord, you know me in secret. You know how my grace wanes. You know how my affections cool. You know how seldom I visit my closet. You know how much I neglect my Bible. You know how bland to my taste the means of grace have become. You know how irksome and uninspiring all spiritual duties and privileges are to me. O Lord, please stir up yourself to revive my soul. Please quicken, oh, revive me in your ways. 'I will run in the way of your commandments when you enlarge my heart' (Ps. 119:32)!"

When in his might the Lord
arose to set us free,
and Zion was restored
from her captivity,
in transports then of joy and mirth
we praised the Lord of all the earth.

(from Psalm 126, The Psalter, 1912)

Be sure to read the Preface by Octavius Winslow and A Note from the Editor by Larry E. Wilson.

Larry Wilson is an ordained minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. In addition to having served as the General Secretary of the Committee on Christian Education of the OPC (2000–2004) and having written a number of articles and booklets (such as God's Words for Worship and Why Does the OPC Baptize Infants) for New Horizons and elsewhere, he has pastored OPC churches in Minnesota, Indiana, and Ohio. We are grateful to him for his editing of Morning Thoughts, the OPC Daily Devotional for 2025.