The Word of Life
by Richard Griffiths
Don’t we all experience the need for personal revival – the life of God flowing through our whole being? Sometimes we seem to feel as if everything is just so much hard work and wonder where that life has gone. We could echo David’s prayer, ‘Revive me!’
His prayer is, ‘revive me through Your righteousness’. God’s righteousness is His goodness, His purity, His holiness, His perfection. His righteousness exposes and cleanses the things in us that cause pollution and destroy life.
God’s righteousness is revealed in His precepts. They are His specific orders to be carefully obeyed down to the last detail. They are the revelation of His righteousness. They show us how to bring our lives into alignment with the righteousness of God.
Imagine two teams of engineers laying a pipeline for a water supply. They have started from opposite ends of the planned pipe. But when they come to the middle, they find that they are out of alignment. If they can’t connect, the water can’t flow. One of the pipes must be realigned.
God’s precepts are show us how to realign our lives so that they connect with God. He’s the source of the water of life, the water that brings revival. He’s not going to realign His righteousness to suit us. That can’t be changed. We have to realign our hearts, our thinking and our behaviour.
That’s why David longs for God’s precepts. He doesn’t say that he’s one hundred percent obedient. He isn’t. No-one is. But his heart is to move in that direction, to be more and more aligned to God’s righteousness. And God will honour that, because it is as we are willing that He gives us the resources we need. And, like David, we need to be transparent before God – not hiding anything. I think that’s why he starts with ‘Behold’. He's saying, ‘Look at me’. And he knows that nothing is hidden from God: You, God, know my folly; my guilt is not hidden from you (Psalm 69:5).
As we make ourselves transparent before God, as we bring our lives into alignment with what He reveals in His precepts, then, through His righteousness, the water of life cleanses, restores and revives. Praise Him!
Richard Griffiths When Richard retired from full-time Anglican ministry in Chichester in 2009, he and his wife, Sue, moved to Northumberland. He joined the ministry team at Ellel Grange in 2011, where he and Sue regularly ministered at healing retreats. They are now helping on the "Explore" team. They greatly enjoy walking in the beautiful Northumberland countryside and along the coast. Richard loves seeing God bringing people into a strong personal relationship with Him as their Father and the healing that comes with it.
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