Do It Again - David H. Lauten
Do It Again
During a Day of Prayer gathering in our sanctuary last week, a man went to the microphone with a brief prayer captured by his final words, “Lord, do it again.” He prayed for God to come down in power with spiritual refreshment. This is the kind of prayer needed in our day.
The longing of the people of God in most every age is for the Lord to bring gracious and genuine revival. As the sons of Korah reflected upon the spiritual landscape of their day, they yearned for God to step into their circumstances and intervene, “will you not revive us again…?” (Psalm 85:6).
During the mid-1980’s I heard a political commentator, Cal Thomas, mention that “the kingdom of God does not arrive on Air Force One.” While we need good civil leaders, King Jesus is most needed in our day. We earnestly desire our Sovereign Lord to bring spiritual awakening and transformation in our land.
While God works as he chooses, he normally works through his people. He often first changes them, and then uses them in the lives of others for his glory. He prunes those united to his Sonthat they may become more like Jesus (John 15).
One day as my grandfather whittled a stick into a magnificent object, I watched the shavings fall to the ground. He asked why I was glaring at what was dropping instead of looking at the image into which he was carving the wood.
God loves us to the degree that he does not leave us in our sin. He whittles away at us that we may become more like Jesus. He harnesses hard circumstances for his glory and our good. This is the Lord disciplines his children whom he loves. He gets their attention to their own sin and need of him. This is why we read judgement, loving restoring discipline, begins with the house of the Lord (1 Peter 4:17).
My mother used to say, “as goes the church, so goes the nation.” As we pray that God may do it again, let us pray for soft hearts towards God, genuine personal repentance and a deepened love for our Triune God. And may our continual plea in prayer be “Lord, do, it again.”