現在先知開始從神的角度來看整個事件，神的原則以及神的榮耀成為了他的負擔。我相信他的祈求可以這樣演繹：「主啊，我們這些屬於你的子民無論要忍受甚麼，都不要緊，只要你的工作得到復興和保持純潔。」他其中一個偉大的祈求，是神會「在這些年間復興（祂的）作為！」（哈三2）。大部分解經家都相信「這些年間」這句話是指「當那些預測的可怕事件在我們中間發生時」。

啊，但願今天在我們的教會能夠聽到更多這樣的禱告。而事實上我們所聽到禱告，卻大多是關於核子威脅、世界經濟、暴力、貪污等主題。當然，這些都是重要的事情，我們也需要在禱告中記念它們，但這些卻不應該是我們最關心的事項。我必須指出，教會在這個時代所應該關注的核心，是祈求神透過全球性的聖靈復興，來重建祂的子民的屬靈生命。

「教會最關心的應該是屬靈生命的重建」

進深研究
賽二十六1-9；代下十五15；詩三十八9，七十三25

1. 以賽亞為甚麼尋求神？
2. 詩人承認甚麼？

祈禱
我的父、我的神，我們總是容許自己墮入靈性的貧乏和空虛之中，求您赦免。求您再次向我們吹進您的靈氣，親愛的主，就從我開始吧。阿們。

From Confusion to Confidence

Day 112

A plea for revival

"Why don't you tear the sky apart and come down?..." (v.1, GNB)

Bible reading:
Isaiah 64:1-8

1 [a]Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you!

2 As when fire sets twigs ablaze and causes water to boil, come down to make your name known to your enemies and cause the nations to quake before you!

3 For when you did awesome things that we did not expect, you came down, and the mountains trembled before you.

4 Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.

5 You come to the help of those who gladly do right, who remember your ways. But when we continued to sin against them, you were angry. How then can we be saved?

6 All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.

7 No one calls on your name or strives to lay hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us and have given us over to[b] our sins.

8 Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.

Message

We ended yesterday with the thought that the highest form of prayer is when we are concerned about the glory of God - and nothing else. Habakkuk did not petition God to give up the idea of using the Chaldeans to refine the people of Judah. Nor did he ask that there would be no sacking of Jerusalem. There was no such petition because he had come to see that the forthcoming events were well deserved.

Now that the prophet had begun to see the whole issue from God's point of view, his burden was for God's cause and God's glory. His petition - so I believe - can be paraphrased in these words: "Lord, whatever we, Your people, have to put up with is of no concern so long as Your work is revived and kept pure." His one great plea is that God will "revive [His] work in the midst of the years!" (Hab. 3:2, NKJ). Most commentators believe that the expression "in the midst of the years" means "while these terrible things that are predicted are going on among us".

Oh, that we could hear more of this kind of praying in our churches today. Most prayers we hear are concerned with topical issues - the nuclear threat, world economy, violence, corruption, and so on. These issues are important, of course, and most certainly there is a need to keep them in the focus of our praying. But these matters should not be our biggest concern. I have no hesitation in saying that the chief concern of the Church in this present age should be the spiritual restoration of God's people through a world-wide Holy Spirit revival.

"The chief concern of the Church should be spiritual restoration"

Prayer
My Father and my God, forgive us that we have allowed ourselves to slip into the depths of spiritual poverty and emptiness. Breathe once again into the midst of us - and begin, dear Lord, in me. Amen.

Further study
Isaiah 26:1-9
2 Chronicles 15:15
Psalm 38:9; 73:25

1. Why did Isaiah seek God?
2. What was the psalmist's confession?

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