Prayer LIII
O Lord, Thou art our Light and our Salvation. Help us, we beseech Thee, to make Thee the strength of our lives and our portion for ever. We come to Thee now, needing Thee all the more the less we feel our need, and we bless Thee that Thou dost not wait to be Q asked but dost pour out Thy lole and Thy grace upon unfaithful and disobedient and forgetful children. Lift our hearts to Thyself, we beseech Thee, and breathe Thou, by that Spirit of supplication Who maketh intercession for the saints, desires into our hearts according to Thine own heart. May we long most for the best things; may our wishes not be led astray by our earthly senses and inclinations; may we see clearly what is the chief good for man in all the days of his else vain life. And may we cherish the conviction that Thou art our portion, our joy, and our all. Help us to order our lives accordingly, and not only when we stand before Thee in prayer, but in all the hurry and struggle of our daily work; when so many duties, and so many intrusive things, press upon us to press Thee out, may we keep our hearts and minds fixed upon Thee.
We thank Thee for times like these, when all around us and without us helps us to come nearer Thee, and for once sense and habit become the allies of the soul. And we pray that, surrounded as we are by the tokens of worship, and with this day filled as it is with associations and memories which bring the risen Saviour to our minds and hearts, we may find it somewhat easier than we often do, in the strife and solitude of daily tasks, to draw near to God, and make sure that He is beside us.
We pray for Thy blessing in this hour. We come to Thee with cares and sorrows and burdens of duty and of endurance. Some of us with foiled desires, some with broken and disappointed hopes, some with perplexities and troubles, some of us with aching and sad hearts, all of us needing Thee, O Lord. We beseech Thee that it may not be in vain that we gather ourselves together. Thou dost say to us by Thy providences, as well as by outward associations to-day, and the recurrence of this hour of worship, ‘Seek ye My face! ‘Oh that our hearts may answer, ‘Thy face. Lord, will I seek ‘; and then we can venture to offer the prayer, ‘Hide not Thy face far from us.” Thou hast never said to any of the seed of Jacob, Seek ye My face in vain.’
We bless Thee that when we seek Thou art found of us, and Thou hast found us before we sought. O Lord, we beseech Thee, then, to cleanse our hearts; to fix them on Thyself; to make our lives fuller of God, consciously to ourselves; and to give us grace, day by day, to fight the good fight which faith involves, and in which faith is triumphant. Keep us. Lord, from our own weaknesses, and from all the subtle temptations which lie in our hearts, and are so ready to be awakened into malignant activity, even by duties and blessings. Strengthen us to follow the Lord, whithersoever He goeth; and give us wisdom, we pray, that we may apprehend all our duties, and grace and strength to will and to do them.
We pray for Thy pardoning mercy, we need the touch of Thy forgiving hand, we need the live coal from the altar of sacrifice to be laid upon lips and hearts that our iniquity may be taken away and our sin purged. And we pray that Thou wouldst give us all which Thou seest we require for life and godliness, and keep us from, and help us to be victors over, whatever holds of death and sin. We pray Thee to hear these our supplications, to grant the forgiveness of our many sins, and accept us in Christ our Saviour.