- Quicken
Psalm 119:37, 40, 50, 88, 93, 149, 156, 159
Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity;
And quicken thou me in thy way.
Behold, I have longed after thy precepts:
Quicken me in thy righteousness.
This is my comfort in my affliction:
For thy word hath quickened me.
Quicken me after thy lovingkindness;
So shall I keep the testimony of thy mouth.
I will never forget thy precepts:
For with them thou hast quickened me.
Hear my voice according unto thy lovingkindness:
O Lord, quicken me according to thy judgment.
Great are thy tender mercies, O Lord:
Quicken me according to thy judgments.
Consider how I love thy precepts:
Quicken me, O Lord, according to thy lovingkindness.
The conditional promise in these 8 verses is that the Lord will quicken us if we obey the Law of God. One of the consequences of keeping covenant, obeying the Ten Commandments, is that we shall be quickened, or made alive. Making alive in this sense of quickening does not immediately refer to resurrection from the dead; quickening means healing the sick, strengthening the weak, perking up the lethargic, energizing the tired, refurbishing the worn out, binding up the injured, lifting up the depressed, and giving new hope, new joy, new love to those who need a message that quickens or makes alive.
Life is good, but our enemies seek to diminish life and take away the goodness of it. Ever since sin came into the world through Adam death reigns and it seeks constantly to weaken the joy of life. With the coming of Christ, sin is forgiven, death is defeated and all the joy and goodness of life is available once again. Since Christ came the believer lives to two worlds: death and life; and when a part of life is diminished or under attack he needs revivification; this quickening comes from believing the Word of God as the Holy Spirit makes it come alive in us.
We need to go to our special, prepared place and listen to the Lord speak the words of the Gospel to us and quicken us again. The Lord wants to say something like: “I love you like this: I gave you my only Son, that if you believe in Him you have eternal life.” And many other such words does Jesus speak: listen and be quickened.