Behold, I have longed after thy precepts: Quicken me in thy righteousness (Psa 119.40).
I believe in the possibility of revival, not only on a wide scale, but also in the quiet, personal experience of an individual believer. We learn from this verse that even real Christians need spiritual renewal, and that this comes from God by means of prayer.
A TESTIMONY OF DESIRE
The first stirrings of God’s Spirit in the heart of one to whom He intends to give this fuller blessing of spiritual life are awakenings of strong desire for God’s Word, and this is what the psalmist testifies that he had already felt in this couplet’s first line.
The first Hebrew verb, translated here, “behold, I have longed after,” is in a tense which could also justifiably be rendered in the English present, “Behold, I long for your precepts” (ESV). It means “to have an emotional attachment to something and so have a wanting or desiring of an object.” The only other place it appears in the whole Bible is Psa 119.174, where the godly man expresses his deep desire for salvation or deliverance. The ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament used by Jesus (LXX, the Septuagint) chooses to translate by a Greek word meaning “desire greatly, lust,” and sometimes it has the sense of coveting. It means “to fix the desire upon” and is intensive. “See how I yearn for Your precepts” (NJB). Here, of course, it has a very good connotation, because this is a strong, righteous desire, as in:
• Jesus earnestly desired to eat with His disciples at the Passover where He instituted the Lord’s Supper (Luke 22.15).
• Some men desire the noble task associated with the office of an elder or overseer in a local church (1 Tim 3.1).
• The author of Hebrews desires that each professing believer shows the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end (Heb 6.11).
• Angels long to look into the things pertaining to the gospel from heaven (1 Pet 1.12).
An illustration of this desire’s intensity is found in the story of the prodigal son. When he had come to the most miserable poverty in that far country away from home, and when he was starving, he was longing (same Greek word) to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate (Luke 15.16). Literal hunger is one of the strongest physical cravings anyone can experience. These spiritual desires of our text are comparable to that, sometimes even more intense, because they have led to saints through the ages fasting that they might spend more time in prayer and Scripture, seeking a deeper fellowship with God.
A PLEA FOR REVIVAL
The second line of this couplet is a plea for revival. We call the sought-after blessing in this verse revival rather than conversion because it comes from one who was already a believer, already regenerated, already changed spiritually from the inside out. His deep yearning for God’s Word is proof of having received new life from the God of the Word.
Do you have something of this intense desire for God’s Word? If not, do you at least have a serious desire for the desire? Even the slightest inclination in this direction should be expressed in prayer, as, “Lord, I have longed for Your precepts,” or, “I have wanted to long for Your precepts, because I know it is right and leads to more spiritual blessing.” If you have no desire whatsoever for God and His Word, then you may be sure that you are spiritually dead and need to be born again. Out of self-interest, you should begin begging God for that.
Jonathan Edwards powerfully contrasted the experiences of true converts and mere hypocrites in a sermon entitled, “Hypocrites Deficient in the Duty of Prayer,” writing,
The true convert’s work is not done [when he realizes he has been converted]; but he finds still a great work to do, and great wants to be supplied. He sees himself still to be a poor, empty, helpless creature, and that he still stands in great and continual need of God’s help. He is sensible that without God he can do nothing. A false conversion makes a man in his own eyes self-sufficient. He says he is rich, and increased with goods, and has need of nothing; and knows not that he is wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. But after a true conversion, the soul remains sensible of its own impotence and emptiness, as it is in itself, and its sense of it is rather increased than diminished. It is still sensible of its universal dependence on God for everything. A true convert is sensible that his grace is very imperfect; and he is very far from having all that he desires. Instead of that, by conversion are begotten in him new desires which he never had before. He now finds in him holy appetites, an hungering and thirsting after righteousness, a longing after more acquaintance and communion with God. So that he still has enough business at the throne of grace [to keep him busy there]; yes, his business there, instead of being diminished, is, since his conversion, rather increased.
Therefore it is not surprising that we find the godly psalmist, suffering the hunger pangs of these strong spiritual desires, begging God to satisfy them. “Quicken me in Thy righteousness.” This is a plea for revival, as appears by the same Hebrew word being used in two other relevant verses:
• Psa 85.6, “Wilt Thou not revive us again: that Thy people may rejoice in Thee?”
• Isa 57.15, “For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to
revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.”
The fruit of revival is described in the second line, “quicken me in Thy righteousness.” In the peak of spiritual health, a revived Christian is characterized by a very careful and successful, if imperfect, life of obedience to all God’s commandments. As one brother said years ago to me about genuine revival: “It is not how high you jump, but how you walk when you come back down.”
The 1599 Geneva Bible comments on this petition, adding, “Give me strength to continue in Your Word even to the end.” Calvin explained its connection with the first line of the psalm verse in his commentary:
This is a repetition of what he declared a little before, with regard to his pious affection, and his love of righteousness; and that nothing was wanting but God to complete the work which he had commenced. If this interpretation be admitted, then, to be quickened in the righteousness of God, will be tantamount to being quickened in the way. The term righteousness is often put in this psalm for the law of God, or the rule of a righteous life. This view tends to make the two parts of the verse accord with one another. “Lord, this is now a remarkable kindness thou hast done me, in having inspired me with a holy desire to keep thy law; one thing is still necessary, that this same virtue pervade my whole life.”
How far beneath this is the prayer life of many professing Christians, if they give time to secret prayer at all! Many are more typically prompted to prayer by various earthly and physical needs—when someone is sick, or we face a problem beyond our felt ability to solve ourselves.
I suspect that some professing Christians are excited about the possibility of revival more because they want to have the ecstatic experiences and enthusiasm associated with it than the reformation of their lives according to the biblical standard. While overwhelming feelings are not to be dismissed as a legitimate part of true revival, these are not its most important feature. In genuine personal revival, a believer draws nearer to God than usual, and has much grace to love Him with all the heart and to love others unselfishly, as God commands. These are the greatest individual blessings we can expect on this side of heaven, and for these we should give ourselves to unrelenting prayer.
Let this text challenge us all to excel in prayer for the personal revival that we need so much, and as those with some sincere desire for biblical holiness, we have every reason to expect that God will hear us. Amen.
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