Prayer LVI
O Lord! Who dost bless us at all times, may we bless Thee at all times. And since Thy benefits are continually in our lives, may Thy praise be as continually in our mouths. We too have to say, ‘This poor man cried, and the Lord helped him.’ Oh that we had cried oftener, and more earnestly; our lives would have been more illuminated and calmed by Thy manifest answers.
O Lord! we confess with wonder at our own folly that we have so little used the right of access to the Throne, and so often employed it for unworthy purposes. Our prayers have too often been our passionate desires to bend Thy will to ours, and to force our notions of good upon Thee. We pray that Thou wouldst teach us more of the nobleness and loftiness of what a true prayer is, and that we may desire more earnestly than anything beside that our wills may be conformed to Thine, and that we may hold all our wishes, and desires, and fancies of what is best for us in subordination and submission to Thy better will, to Thy clearer knowledge, to Thy more tender and wise and mighty love. And so help us that we
May travel on life’s common way
In cheerful godliness, in patient acceptance of Thy providences, and in earnest desires to draw from them all the good which Thou hast stored in them for us.
We would come to bless Thee for Thy dealings with us, and to pray that we may increasingly learn the wisdom and the blessedness in everything of giving thanks, and so rejoicing evermore. We do believe that none of them that trust in Thee shall be desolate. Therefore, we beseech Thee that as our guard against all transient evil, lowliness, and sorrow, we may be able to feel always the bond that knits us to Thee, and to live in quiet and constant trust. Help us to learn the fear of the Lord that waits on trust, to hate evil and to do good, to walk in the ways of Thy commandments, and to be of those righteous whom no harm can touch. Strengthen us to take upon our shoulders the yoke which is easy, and to bear upon our backs the burden which is light, that our days may indeed fly happily in that dear service.
Teach us, we pray Thee, to draw very near to Thee, and by fixed wills and conscious remembrance of Thee to pass our days in communion with Thyself, that so we may be guided by Thine eye, and discern the lightest monitions of Thy will. We thank Thee that they who wait to know God’s will are never long left in ignorance of it. We beseech Thee that Thou wouldst keep us from misreading any of Thy purposes concerning us, and help us, day by day, to be willing to do the will that we may know of its teaching. So, O Lord! do Thou guide us through all perplexity. May the light that is in us ever be attended by us. May it be our guiding star, so that wo shall not walk in darkness. May Christ Himself be our Light, and we His followers, who know the path.
And now, O Lord! shed abroad Thy grace and love upon all our hearts. We pray Thee to take away anything that may hinder our fellowship with Thee. May we learn to-day something more of what our Lord and Father is to us, and means for us, and would have us to be. And may old truths have new freshness and power as applied to the new circumstances of our lives. We have to say every day, however uneventful and unchanging the duties of our familiar lives may be, that we have not passed this way heretofore. Ever guide, and strengthen us to accept Thy guidance. Be near any that have any special need of Thy presence and help. Strengthen us all to draw near to Thee now, and let the light of Thy countenance shine into our hearts and lives, and the joy of the Lord be our strength. Hear us, Lord! forgive all our need, and win us, we pray Thee, from our wayward ways, and many faults, and help us to hear and worship for our Saviour Christ’s sake.