Awake, Awake: A Complete Stirring of Powers to Praise

Deborah's exhortation rings with urgency: "Awake, awake, Deborah: awake, awake, utter a song: arise, Barak, and lead thy captivity captive" (Judges 4:14). This doubled command demands a total mobilization of human capacity for worship.

First, rouse the bodily powers. The tongue—that glory of our frame—must be tuned like David's harp of old. Our weary limbs and heavy eyelids yield to the power of Divine joy, which reanimates even the flesh itself.

Second, awaken the mental faculties. Memory must search the record of God's mercies—His hesed (covenant faithfulness)—in days gone by. Judgment must measure the music; understanding must weigh His loving-kindness in scales and His goodness in balances. Can we count even the dust of His mercies? Imagination must gather pictures from all worlds, bidding sun and moon join the new song.

Third, and most crucially, stir the graces of the spirit. Love must strike the keynote and lead the strain. Hope must sing of the dying hour, the resurrection morning when the body leaps from its tomb into the Saviour's arms. Faith must sing of promises sure and certain. Hope anticipates Christ's expected advent; faith anchors in heaven which He has gone before to prepare.