Livin Lively

By Peggy Lively

            I recently finished a Bible study titled Fresh Encounter by Henry and Richard Blackaby. It is a very informative and inspiring study about revival and spiritual awakening. It takes a detailed look at the phases of revival from a historical and a Biblical perspective.

            In Unit 6 of the study, a young man named Evan Roberts prayed earnestly for eleven years that God would send revival to his native land of Wales. When he was 26, he was inspired by a sermon and a prayer by an evangelist named Seth Joshua. Joshua prayed, “Bend us, O Lord.” Roberts believed that this was what God wanted for him personally, and he prayed, “Bend me, Lord.” Then when he returned home to his church, his motto became, “Bend the Church and save the world.”

            As I read this, I wasn’t really sure what he meant by this prayer, or that it was one I personally wanted to pray. My first thought was, “Bend me, but don’t break me.” I got the impression that “bend me” meant humble me, change me, and conform me to God’s image. And I do believe it means all this. But as I continued thinking about it, I heard a song on the radio that gave me a whole new perspective on this prayer. The song is titled, “How He loves” by the David Crowder Band, and the lyrics say this:

“He is jealous for me

Loves like a hurricane

I am a tree

Bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy.”

            All of a sudden instead of seeing the “bending” as God humbling me and conforming me, I saw it as being bent underneath the weight of His great mercy and love for me. His mercy and love for us are so great that if we fully experienced it, we couldn’t even stand up underneath it. The song continues,

“And I realize just how beautiful You are

And how great Your affections are for me…Oh how He loves us!”

“If His grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking…Oh how He loves us!”

 I pray that each one of us would understand how great His affections are for us.  

For your unfailing love is as high as the heavens. Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. (Psalm 57:10, NLT)

 The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is His faithfulness; His mercies begin afresh each morning (Lamentations 3:22-23, NLT)

Bend us, O Lord…beneath the weight of your love and mercy. Give us eyes to see and hearts to fully comprehend how much You love us. Oh how you love us. Thank you, Amen.