The Middle Years
O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years.
Habakkuk 3:2
The middle of anything is generally its weakest point, and middle years are years of particular danger. More and more, society has turned its attention to the problems people face in their middle years. The work of God faces its own peculiar difficulties in its middle years, and Habakkuk was led to pray that it might be revived at that time. The trouble with the middle years is that zeal tends to diminish while worldliness creeps in. Prosperity can lead to complacency, and God’s people lose the vision of a world perishing in sin.
Habakkuk shows us that the work is still God’s in the midst of the years. He prays, “Revive thy work in the midst of the years.” Because the work is still God’s, it demands the same level of faithfulness as at the beginning. Many people support the work when it is in its exciting initial stages and then lie back and become discouraged when it settles down.
What God’s work needs in the middle years is revival. The word for “revive” is often translated quicken in the Old Testament. To quicken is to bring to life, and God can bring His work to life just when it seems to have lost its way and become powerless. No one could have anticipated the mighty revival that God sent to Europe in the sixteenth century. Men like Luther, Calvin, Knox, Zwingli, and Farel were raised up, and they led great multitudes to Christ.
In the midst of the years we stand in need of revival. Unless it comes, our strength will ooze from us, and we will be like Samson when shorn of his locks. All we can say to God is, “O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years.”
Rev. Gordon Ferguson
From: Eagles’ Wings, Daily Devotions
There is no hope for true prayer and intercession
for revival unless we realise that there is a need.
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
