Leanness of Soul Cry for Revival

I have a message for us today, friends, on revival, and our text can be found in the book of Psalms. You can turn in your Bibles there now, friends. We will be in Psalm 106, beginning in verse 13.

Psalm 106 is a picture of a people who have forgotten God, but they have ceased to remember all the good He has done for them, all the deliverances He has performed for them, and they have backed away from God in their daily living by becoming self-reliant, and their rebellion has caused them to fall into grievous sins despite the unflagging goodness of God. In this striking passage of Scripture, we see God give them leanness of soul, and this reveals to them their need for revival. The title of my message today, friends, is Leanness of Soul, Cry for Revival.

Here now is the word of God, and may the Spirit of the Lord attend the reading of His holy word. They soon forgot His works. They waited not for His counsel, but lusted exceedingly in the wilderness and tempted God in the desert, and He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their souls.

There are several aspects I want to draw out of our passage today, friends, as it applies to personal revival. Number one, leanness of soul reveals a backslidden condition. This was a gradual drifting away from God.

Anyone who finds themselves away from God can look back and pinpoint a time in their life where a gradual backing away from God began to occur, perhaps in their daily quiet time, perhaps through discouragement and disappointment. But either way, like a piece of driftwood is carried further and further away from the shore through inertia, so too the Christian who slowly drifts away from their God. Well, first, the Jews ceased to remember and relate the previous deliverances God had worked in their behalf.

We see this to be so over in verse 43. Many times did He deliver them, but they provoked Him with their counsel and were brought low for their iniquity. And that's the worst thing about sin, friend.

It brings you low. It brings a people low. It brings a church low.

It brings a nation low. And this first drift away made them to cease waiting upon God in prayer. They became forgetful and impatient.

Perhaps you, friend, have been waiting on God for a thing and nothing has materialized and you've convinced yourself that God no longer cares about you. But that's a great mistake. But it's affected your prayer life to a degree that all is dry and barren.

Well, the next drift away for the Israelites was because they had backed away from relying upon God. They became self-reliant. And that's the worst thing that can happen to a church, to a people, to become self-reliant.

Well, this led them into willful sin that provoked God in the wilderness. Let me ask you, friend, are you in the wilderness right now? Are you in a spiritual wilderness where all is dry and God seems a million miles away? Leanness of soul is a spiritual wilderness where we are out of step with God and out of touch with God. Well, the second aspect I want us to see, friends, is that leanness of soul reveals a need for revival.

When we finally get honest enough with ourselves to admit we are in a backslidden condition, then that reveals our need for personal revival. And a cry goes up to God as seen in verse 47. When we admit our leanness of soul, we turn back to God in repentance and prayer to seek His face and His mercies to enter back into a fresh encounter with Him.

And that's what revival is, friend, a fresh encounter with God. And when revival comes, a song will come forth from our hearts with thanksgiving to God as seen in the people of God in our last verse in our passage today. In verse 48, we read the response of a revived people.

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting. And let all the people say, Amen. Praise ye the Lord.