Prayer CXXVIII
Help us, O Lord, we beseech Thee, to praise, for surely Thou art willing to breathe desires into our hearts, and to quicken in us all that which is ready to perish. We would turn ourselves to Thee this morning, and bless Thee that in the midst of the vocations of daily life, and all the struggles and perplexities and pressing difficulties devolving upon us, we have this day of the Lord, which makes it easier for us, even by the weight of outward things, to rise to communion with Thyself. These outward things are so often against us that we thank Thee if, for once in the week, they are for us. And we pray that Thou wouldst help us rightly to use the associations of this place and the forms of worship, and so to rise beyond these, and individually to come into the secret place of the Most High.
Lord! help us everywhere, so weak that the very means which Thou hast mercifully granted and appointed, by which sense may aid spirit, are too often made by us the end, and by them spirit is weakened instead of strengthened. May we worship Thee to-day in spirit, whilst we do so in form; and may we find that the Lord is nigh unto them that call upon Him in truth. Thou dost open Thine hand, and dost satisfy the desires of every living thing. Surely Thou wilt not neglect the desires of living souls that turn to Thee for more abundant life.
We beseech thee to help us. Truly we need Thee, Lord! We need Thee to give, we need Thee to teach us to receive, we need Thee to answer and to inspire our prayers. And we pray that Thou wouldst help us now, giving to each of us our portion of that spirit of supplication which maketh intercession in us with unutterable desires.
O Lord! when we think of such words, and then are conscious of how poor, and how feeble, and how much smaller than the utterance of them our real desires after them often are, we do not wonder that we get few answers. But we pray Thee to help us this morning. May we break away from everything that fetters; may the frost of our hearts be melted by the Sun of Righteousness. May we rise above the things seen and temporal. May we apprehend our true good. May we covet earnestly the best things, and may we find that none who ask from Thee the good things which Thou knowest to be for our good are ever sent empty away.
Lord! we need Thy pardoning and Thy cleansing power. We ask and we hope, in some measure we desire, that our lives may be made more conformable to the example of our Master, and our inmost selves be brought into closer union with Him Who is the very life of our lives and the self of ourselves. To us may it more truly than ever it has been be Christ to live. And may all that we are and do be submitted to the obedience of Christ. Help us in our daily lives to fight the good fight whatever shape it may take, and many different shapes it does take in our different lives. Arm us against our temptations. Make us clear-sighted to know what they are. Show us the things wherein, by nature or by circumstances, or indulged habits, we have become weakest. And do Thou build us the ruined walls, and help us to resist successfully. Enlighten us as to duty. May we see higher heights than we have ever seen. May we not shrink from climbing to any heights we see. May our consciences be made sensitive and swift and sure, and help us implicitly to follow. May we not condemn ourselves in anything that we allow ourselves. May we be taught the law of the Lord, and may that ever be our law.
We pray Thee to come near to us this morning, to help and bless us in our worship, to accept our thanks, and to continue to us such outward blessings as Thou knowest to be for our highest good. Make us willing to accept Thy will in regard to all outward things, the smaller, and in regard to all great and eternal things. Be Thy mercy upon us, according as our hope is in Thee. And make our hope greater and more assured and more firm, because Thou dost put our poor expectations to shame by the wealth of Thy answers. We pray Thee to hear, accept, and bless us, through our Lord Jesus Christ.