Who will stir himself to take hold of God?

Who Will Stir Himself to Take Hold of God?

Isaiah 64:1.

“Oh that Thou wouldest rend the heavens, that Thou wouldest

come down, that the mountains may flow down at Thy Presence.”

A little while ago, when I was still in pastoral ministry, two ‘unchurched’ men (separately and in different circumstances) contacted me with quite remarkable stories of God jolting them “awake” to their spiritual need, their deep need of GOD. In both cases it appeared to be a gracious and sovereign dealing of the Almighty with them. We know that amazingly and mercifully, God powerfully influences the mind and will in bringing sinners to faith in Christ. Jesus said, “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him…” (John 6:44). One of those men reached out to God with me in sincere prayer, and I trust the Holy Spirit has worked a deep and enduring work in him. Without question God was doing the awakening, and mercifully in both cases, whatever the end result of those encounters.

But then, it’s not only sinners who need awakening. There are times when THE CHURCH needs a divine awakening to rouse her from spiritual inertia, backsliding, worldliness, materialism, and carnality, to restore her to the place where God’s presence and power are evident in her, so that His purposes for and through her might be realized. The history of the Church encourages us with wonderful testimonies of God coming again and again in REVIVAL to an apostate, declining Church; divine visitations taking place against the background of a spiritless, dormant and unconcerned Church.

Reading the prophecy of Isaiah, I was ‘jolted’ by the words of chapter 64:7: “And there is none that calleth upon Thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of Thee.” There was a desperate need for a ‘spiritual awakening’ among God’s people. And there is an equally desperate need among us for ‘an awakening’ today, a supernatural intervention of Divine grace. But just as in Isaiah’s day, there appears to be few today who are prepared to “stir themselves up to take hold of God.” Note in the text the first word is “AND…” It connects us to the preceding words of the prophet, a man evidently burdened because of a Sanctuary that was desecrated and derelict (63:18. 64:12), and God’s people marked by a lamentable waywardness and spiritual hardness (63:17). They had forgotten Him, and made themselves such “an unclean thing” (64:6) – little wonder God turned His face away from them in His wrath (verse 5). Spiritual life was at an alarmingly low ebb, as the ravages of sin and general listlessness among God’s people had taken away all relish for holy things, so that no one was calling on the Lord (verses 5-7). There is a strong note of hopelessness in Isaiah’s record. Mark this well: when there are none to care, there are none in prayer! And nothing then seems more hopeless!

I have reviewed some of the histories of the past, and they have created within me a longing for “another Divine visitation”. We have gone far too long without a Revival of any significant proportions. Much of what has been claimed as “revival” in recent times has proven to be far removed from what is the genuine Biblical visitation of God, and certainly not comparable to the remarkable revivals in Church history, especially the 18^th, 19^th, and 20^th Century revivals. The honest confession of many ministers has been that they were totally disillusioned with what was claimed to be the “end time revival”, and which they had unthinkingly taken on board.

I am convinced that THE need in this hour is for MORE of God’s people to bestir themselves to “lay hold of God”. By this is meant to give oneself to fervent, passionate prayer – an intractable wrestling like Jacob (Genesis 32:24), or a calculated and concentrated pleading like Elijah (1 Kings 18:42), or an intense agonizing like Daniel (Daniel 9:3-19). And now Isaiah is pleading:

“Oh, that Thou wouldest rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains may flow down at Thy presence.” (Isaiah 64:1-3).

And nothing less than such praying is going to turn the situation of our times in our Churches. It has always been this way. Any historical inquiry will show that situations of spiritual decay and deadness “are radically altered by invigorated prayer together with a return to the apostolic preaching of the whole counsel of God.” (Eifion Evans) For God comes in effective intervention for those who wait on Him and humbly meet His conditions, as Israel had proved time and again (verses 4-5).

Isaiah strengthens his own faith as he recalls God’s merciful dealings with His people in the past. God could do it again, and the next chapter (65) reveals God’s answer as former troubles are forgotten and God pledges new and glorious things. YES, GOD CAN DO IT AGAIN! - and ONLY God can do it. It is not in OUR power to “speak life” over our cities and to our generation, as many are being urged to do in a total misconception of our prerogatives, authority, and ability. To assume some kind of creative ability through ‘speaking into situations’ appears, to me, to be blasphemous. God alone can “speak life” into the dead. Ezekiel 37:3-6. It is certain that if we would know of a ‘rent heaven’ then it will demand a seriousness about eternal issues, a losing of ourselves in God, a love of holiness, a deep concern for the general spiritual state of things in the Church and in the community, the honest confession of abounding spiritual need, and a passion for the honour of God.

O, to hear again, from a people ‘stirred to lay hold of God’, the cry for Him to “rend the heavens and come down.” (Isaiah 64:1,7) Some interpret this passage to be a plea for a sudden and sublime descent of the Almighty to take revenge on His foes; as if His heart were full of vengeance and the very firmament would violently rend asunder at His sudden appearance. Permit me to use it in a “revival” context, for it is evident that the prophet Isaiah is exercised about the spiritual condition of Israel, hence a strong plea for God to come down and powerfully manifest His awesome Presence, before which “mountains flow down”. Indeed, THIS IS REVIVAL –

the sovereign acting of God as He comes down upon His own people, intervening to lift the prevailing situation of moral and spiritual bankruptcy out of human hands, and to manifest His holy Presence by works of extraordinary power.

R.B.Jones, in his eye-witness account of the 1904 Revival in Wales says,

“If one were asked to describe in a word the outstanding features of those days, one would unhesitatingly reply that it was the universal, inescapable sense of the presence of God…In 1904 the Lord had literally rent the heavens, and had scattered the satanic forces entrenched therein. The Lord had come down. The mountains were gloriously melted down in His presence. A sense of the Lord’s presence was everywhere. It pervaded; nay, it created the spiritual atmosphere. It mattered not where one went the consciousness of the reality and nearness of God followed…in the Revival gatherings…in the homes, on the streets, in the mines and factories, in the schools…wherever people gathered became a place of awe, and places of amusement and carousal were practically emptied.”

What is most evident is that Revival does not depend upon methodologies or personalities (both of which have prominent emphasis in these confusing times), but upon obedience, the sign of a willing, tender heart no longer resisting God and refusing to go His way, “the way of holiness” (35:8). Observe Isaiah’s lament:

“Thou hast hid Thy face from us, and hast consumed us, BECAUSE OF OUR INIQUITIES.” (64:7)

With whom then will God “come down” and presence Himself? The prophet knew very well. “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.” (57:13)

God’s prophet understands how imperative that Divine Presence is, hence he is concerned for that which has stripped his people of that august Presence. You can sense his inward grief, no doubt reflecting God’s own anguish. If we are to have “rent heavens” we must first of all have “rent hearts”! Look up Joel 2:12-18. God is not a bit interested in the outward ‘show’ of religion, with all its futile cleverness, its vain cloning, and its trifling clichés. It is time for the church to wake up to the emptiness of her ‘hype’, the barrenness of her life and witness, the general want of integrity, and the hollowness of her false claims. And what incredible claims men and movements are making! But that only goes to underscore their utter self-deception! It needs to be remembered that profession counts for very little when we do not really know anything of those powerful divine influences that descend when GOD “rends the heavens”. Superficiality and artificiality shut up heaven and distance God from us (Psalm 138:6). Sadly, there are those who can still continue to engage in soulish religious ‘worship’, impervious to the fact that He is not there! That is a dreadful and incalculable loss. The tragedy in Isaiah’s day was that whilst admitting the people’s sins had incurred such a fearful state – can you believe this – they wanted to blame God for it! (63:17)

Nothing substitutes for God’s Presence among us. Cain knew this, admitting to God,

“My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold Thou hast driven me out this day…and from Thy face shall I be hid…AND CAIN WENT OUT FROM THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD.” (Genesis 4:13-16)

Saul also, because of his sin, forfeited God’s Presence. Without touching the difficulties of the 1 Samuel 28 passage, note that toward the end of his life, when God refused to answer him (what a solemn thing!), he consulted with the witch of Endor to bring up the prophet Samuel. When Samuel inquired why he should be thus disquieted, Saul said: “I am sore distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, AND GOD IS DEPARTED FROM ME and answereth me no more. What shall I do?” Samuel’s reply predicts the end of Saul’s reign as king over Israel and of his life, a prophecy fulfilled to the letter (cf. 31:6-10). Saul had asked, “What shall I do?” The reality is this that when God has gone, and there is no repentance, there is nothing you can do!

In Isaiah’s day, through their folly God’s people had been robbed of their inheritance – and of His marvelous all-prevailing Presence. That was the one thing that MOSES coveted more than anything else, because it was truly THE distinguishing mark of God’s people over against all other nations. Read Exodus 33:12-17, and note verse 16, “So shall we be separated, I and Thy people from all the people that are on the face of the earth.” IT STILL IS THE DISTINGUISHING MARK between us as God’s people by redemption, and an unregenerate world still in the clutches of “the god of this world”!

WHY do we need God to “come down”? Is it solely because of the terrible moral and spiritual condition of our society, the alarming escalation of sin in our own communities, the serious political difficulties and want of godly leadership in the nation that has made us ripe for Divine judgment? That may be part of the answer, for in reality the world has always been at enmity with God. (Isaiah 63:19. Colossians 1:21). BUT God’s people ought to know better – and BE better and different, just as He purposed, so that we might be the witness for Him that He intends us to be to our generation. “Thou, O Lord, art our Father, our redeemer…the tribes of Thine inheritance…We are Thine…called by Thy name…Thou art our Father; we are the clay, and Thou art our Potter…” (63:16-19. 64:8) Whatever be the protestations of deluded people, if we are honest we will confess the Church is not where it should be. We have ‘fallen away’ – some have become part of the end-time apostasy (2 Thessalonians 2:3), whilst others, like Ephesus, have not departed from traditional faith but they have “left their first love”, thus described as having “fallen” (Revelation 2:5). O, let us stir up ourselves, and “take hold of God”, in order that we might know His awesome and saving Presence among us again, restoring, renewing, and reviving.

“Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause thine anger toward us to cease. Wilt thou be angry with us for ever? wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations? Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee? Shew us thy mercy, O LORD, and grant us thy salvation.”  (Psalm 85:4-7)

O, let us cry to God.

IT IS ABSOLUTELY IMPERATIVE!