"O Lord, in the morning I will direct my prayer to You."
"They shall behold the land that is very far off. "Isaiah
33:17
O God, in the multitude of Your mercies I am again
permitted to see the light of a new day. With another rising morn scatter all
the clouds of sin and unbelief from my soul. Unfold to my view bright glimpses
of Yourself—sweet foretastes of those joys which "eye has not seen, nor ear
heard."
Here, Lord, I have "no continuing city"—change is my
portion in this the house of my pilgrimage—I would not desire to live here
always. I am "willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with
the Lord." Wean me from this uncertain world. Bring me to live under the
powers of a world to come. I rejoice to think of the happy myriads already in
glory—"clothed in white robes, with palms in their hands"—safe in the presence
of the Master they love, with every tear-drop wiped away. I rejoice to know
that the blood and grace to which they owe their crowns are still free as
ever. Oh, may I be enabled, with some good measure of triumphant assurance, to
say, "Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness,
which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day." May the
thought of that endless, sinless, sorrowless immortality reconcile me to all
earth's severest discipline. Let me not murmur under the heaviest cross in the
prospect of such a crown. Let me not refuse to pass cheerfully through the
hottest furnace which is to refine and purify me for this "exceeding weight of
glory;" but bear with calm serenity whatever You see fit to lay upon me.
"Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning."
Lord, grant that the approach of eternity may urge me to
greater diligence in Your service. May I have my loins girded and my lamp
burning. May I spend each day, and this day, as if it were to be my
last. When the shadows of evening gather around me, may I feel that I have
spent a day for God. Nearer a dying hour—may it find me nearer heaven.
What I ask for myself I would seek in behalf of all my
beloved friends. Sprinkle each heart with the blood of the covenant. May every
eye be directed to Jesus, and every footstep be pointing heavenward. Though
severed from one another now, may we not be found gathered in different
bundles on the great reaping-day of judgment.
Lord, unite Your own people more and more. Why should we be
guilty of such sad estrangements, crossing and recrossing one another on
life's highway with alien and jealous looks, when professing to be sprinkled
with the same blood, to bear the same name, and be heirs of the same
inheritance? Let me live near to Jesus, and then I shall live near all His
people, looking forward to that blessed time when we shall see eye to eye and
heart to heart—no jarring or discordant note to mar the everlasting ascription
of "blessing, and honor, and glory and power, to Him who sits upon the throne,
and to the Lamb, forever and ever." Amen.
"Cause me to hear Your loving-kindness in the morning, for
in You do I trust."