So many of us long to see the Lord rise up and begin His work among us in a fresh way. We may pray,

“Lord, have Your way among us!”

And we should. But, according to the Bible there is something in particular the Lord is looking for among His people that will cause Him to begin His work anew. We see this, very specifically, in Psalm 102.

The heading of this psalm tells us that it is

…A Prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed and pours out his complaint before the LORD.

And the first part of the psalm is the writer’s moving description of how he has been “consumed” (v. 3) by his sufferings. In verse 12, however, he turns to remember the Lord, and then in verses 13-14 he seems to state his deepest concern. It is not for is own suffering, but for the condition of God’s dwelling place:

You will arise and
have mercy on Zion;
For the time to favor her,
Yes, the set time, has come.
For Your servants
take pleasure in her stones,
And show favor to her dust.

The psalmist is telling us that God will “arise” and begin His work anew among us when He sees His servants crying out over the ruins of His testimony.

That is what He is waiting for.

If we are indifferent to the state of the church; if it does not matter to us that the spiritual condition of God’s people is so low; if we don’t care whether the saints are seeking Christ and following Him—then it will seem as if it does not matter to God, either.

But, if we are grieved over the condition of the church, as we surely should be in these days, so that we cry out to Him about the situation, about the ruin of the church, its “stones” and its “dust”; then, according to these verses, it will become “the set time” for the Lord to rise up and deal with the situation.

And as the psalmist goes on to say:

…The nations shall fear
the name of the LORD,
And all the kings of the earth
Your glory.
For the LORD shall build up Zion;
He shall appear in His glory.
— Psalm 102:15-16

Recently the Lord spoke to me through Isaiah 59:16:

He saw that there was no man,
And wondered that
there was no intercessor.

May this not be the case in our time. Rather, may the Lord raise up many intercessors on behalf of His church, and this nation, in these days, who can no longer bear to see the church in such a condition as it is!

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— 7 May 2022 —