For Lowliness of Mind
‘He giveth grace unto the durable.” — 1 Pet. v. 5.
O God, Thou art “the high and the lofty One who inhabiteth eternity.” There is no being truly great but Thee. All other excellence and glory is derived — Thine is underived. All else is finite — Thine is infinite. The burning seraph nearest Thy throne is the humblest of all Thy creatures, because he gets the nearest view of the majesty of Thy glory.
Lord, fill my soul this morning with suitable views of Thy greatness, and a humbling estimate of my own nothingness. I would lie low at Thy feet — in wonder and amazement that dust and ashes should be permitted to approach that Being whom angels worship with folded wings, and in whose sight the very heavens are not clean.” Repress every proud, self-glorying imagination. Let me feel I cannot abase myself enough in thy presence. “Lord, I am vile; what can I answer Thee?” My best thoughts, how polluted! — my best services, how imperfect! — my best affections, how lukewarm! — my best prayers, how cold! — my best hours, were I judged by them, how would I be condemned! I desire to take refuge at the cross of a crucified Saviour. Here, Lord, give me that grace Thou hast promised to the lowly. Self-renouncing and sin-renouncing, I would seek to be exalted only in Jesus, crying out “God be merciful to me a sinner!” In broken-heartedness of soul, I mourn the past. Distrustful of the future, I look only to Thee. Full of my own unworthiness, I turn to the infinitely worthy One. I seek to be washed in His blood — sanctified by His Spirit — guided by His counsel — depending on Him for every supply of grace — and feeling that without Him I must perish.
May I take the humility and gentleness of Jesus as my pattern. Like Him, may I be meek and lowly in heart. Give me grace to avoid ostentation and pride, haughtiness and vanity, envy and uncharitableness. “In lowliness of mind, may I esteem others better than myself.” Let me realize every moment that I am a pensioner on Divine bounty — that I am alike “for temporals and spirituals” dependent on Thee — and that it well becomes me to be “clothed with humility.” O let me meekly and submissively lose my own will in Thine, in childlike teachableness, saying — “What wilt Thou have me to do?” May no murmur escape my lips at Thy dealings. May this lowliness of spirit lead me rather to wonder at thy sparing mercy, that the great and holy Being I have provoked so long by my rebellion has not “cut me down.”
Bless all connected to me by endearing bonds. May nature’s ties be made doubly st’ ong by those of covenant grace. Bless 7hy cause and kingdom in the world. May Thy Spirit descend “• like rain upon the mown grass, and showers that water the earth.”
I commit myself unto Thee, and to the word of Thy grace. Guide me this day by Thy counsel. May I spend it as if it were to be my last. And when my last day does arrive, may it be to me the eve of a happy eternity. And all I ask is for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
“CAUSE ME TO HEAR THY LOVING-KINDNESS IN THE MORNING, FOR IN THEE DO I TRUST.”