Though we cannot bring revival, we can examine ourselves personally and corporately for the kinds of things that God, in his word, tells us that he will not bless with his reviving presence. That is to say, we can examine ourselves for the kind of “faith” that God says is no faith at all and, therefore, looks at and says, “Nope! I will not be a part of that!” We see an example of that kind of “faith” here. Through Isaiah, God calls his people to repentance, even though, as God himself says, they seek him daily and delight to know his ways. To put that in our terms: they pray (and fast!), do personal worship, come to church weekly (in person), are in a community group, attend one of our learning groups, volunteer at the church and in the community, etc. That is to say, they Gather, Connect, Grow and Serve. As a result, outwardly, they are very religious; but it’s not sincere. It’s not done in authentic pursuit of the presence of God! Rather, it’s done in an attempt to obligate God to do for them what they want God to do for them (“Lord, look at all of the things I’ve done for you, now please do this for me”). And here’s the evidence of their insincerity: notwithstanding all of their religiosity, they oppress their workers, quarrel and fight, ignore the plight of the poor, etc. So, God, here, calls them to repent of this wickedness and to prove the authenticity of their repentance by the way that they then begin to live (to repent means to turn from something and to then walk in a different direction or way). When you do that, God says, you shall cry out for me and I will say: “Here I am!” And, as we’ve already seen, the goal of repentance is the presence of God (his: “here I am”) revealed to the nations through his people. Who (and what) we need is him! So, let’s prepare the way through repentance!