Revived by the Living Word

“I am greatly afflicted; renew and revive me, O Lord, according to Your Word” (Psalm 119:107 Amplified Bible)

Welcome back dear student, there is a saying… ‘it knocked the stuffing out of me’ meaning something caused such distress; exhausting and weakening the one affected. As a kid my bicycle was my transport if I wanted to meet friends during school holidays. I was not at all mechanical, so nothing was more upsetting than when my tyres were flat. But lo and behold when someone fixed it, the tyre was re-inflated, and my freedom and joy was restored!

Life can be like that bike. All is going great at times, then bang – your gallop is halted. “My earthly life clings to the dust, revive and refresh me according to Your Word” (Psalm 119:25-28 – also verse 50, and verse 93). Negative experiences rock a person’s confidence in themselves, and in others. Toxic encounters leave a bitter taste. Health issues, or financial problems are heavy stressful weights to navigate through. But there is Good News - the Word of God revives us!

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord God, when I will send famine on the land - not a famine of bread or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the Word of the Lord. People will stagger from sea to sea and roam…seeking the Word of the Lord but won’t find it. Beautiful girls and strong young men will grow faint in that day, thirsting for the Lord’s Word” (Amos 8:11-13). Could this be why so many struggle with anxiety, oppression, unhealed trauma, or physical infirmities - because there is a severe lack of knowledge of God’s Word in today’s world?

Beautiful generations have been duped into believing that God is not relevant to them - that they instead have the ‘power of the universe’ within them to bring their own success, and that faith in Jesus is weird and unnecessary – only fit for sad people. There’s plenty of rituals, formulas, and step programmes promoted, but relationship through the Living Saviour with the God Who created and knows us inside out, is frowned upon as freakish. Yet statistics don’t lie. Suicide, breakdown of minds, marriages, families, and societies all point to something lacking.

"My people are being destroyed for lack of knowledge - because they don’t know Me" (Hosea 4:6). Never before have we had so much therapy, and organisations helping humanity; yet the problems worsen. People lean more on drink, drugs, prescription meds, and social media - anything to get a feeling of peace, joy, and significance.

Once Jesus met a woman who was fetching water when everyone else was inside out of the midday sun. There was a reason she was alone. Her sinful lifestyle had shunned her from others. She was isolated, in troublesome pain. She had knowledge of religion, but no revelation of God. She had sought love and found turmoil. Jesus asked her for a drink and talked to her about receiving His Living Water that leads to eternal life. This personal encounter with the Messiah changed her forever. He knew things about her life by the Holy Spirit, which caused her to run and tell her villagers that she had met God’s promised Saviour (Psalm 139:1-12). Meeting Jesus not only affected her, but impacted the whole neighbourhood, and many had life changing experiences with Him as a result of her testimony (John 4:14-42).

Jesus said, if we abide in His Word: continually obeying His teachings, living in accordance with them, then we are truly His disciples, and we will know the Truth, and that Truth that we know and understand, shall set us free (John 8:31-32; John 7:37-38). God’s plan for you dear one, is not a deflated life – it is to revive you with His Living Water! We need You Lord Jesus, as the air we breathe.