Prayer CXVII
O Lord our Father, help us, we beseech Thee, that we may indeed withdraw our trust from all crumbling uncertainties, and fix them upon the living God Who giveth all things richly to enjoy. We beseech Thee to make us more and more rich and content in the possession of Thyself. May it be true of us that for mind and heart and will and life Thou art our Portion; the strength of our hearts, and the aim and treasure of our lives.
O Lord! we have to confess our wandering, many shortcomings, terrible gaps between our ideal and the reality. We know so much better than we do. We desire, sometimes, so much more nobly than we habitually aim. We forget Thee in the midst of Thy good things, in the midst of the duties that Thou dost appoint, in the midst of the cares and perplexities which we often pull down upon our own heads. We pray Thee to help us to simpler lives, to a more complete and persistent faith in Thee, running through all our days, and making the weakest of us as an angel of God. Help us in our daily life to set the Lord always before us; and with that light before our eyes may we not walk in darkness.
O Lord! have pity upon our imperfections; speak Thy word through us, even us, O Lord! that its great power may vindicate itself, and our hearts may yield to Thy message. Guide us in the paths of daily duty and conflict, and may the things seen and temporal help us towards the unseen and eternal. We pray for all the weary and the sad, the lonely and the stricken hearts among us; that Thy sweet presence may steal into desolate souls; that bowing to Thy holy will we may be enriched with Thy perfect peace. We pray for all who are seeking to do Thy will in the world, and to make other men know and love the King and His law. And we beseech Thee that through the nations of the earth that holy and sweet power may flow which shall turn the weapons of war into the instruments of peaceful service and fruit-bearing toil.
Grant us Thy blessing in our hour of worship, O Lord, we pray, through Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour.