"O Lord, in the morning I will direct my prayer to You."
"He gives grace to the humble."—1 Pet. 5:5
O God, You are "the high and lofty One who inhabits
eternity." There is no being truly great but You. All other excellence and
glory is derived—Yours is underived. All else is finite—Yours is infinite. The
burning seraph nearest Your throne is the humblest of all Your creatures,
because he gets the nearest view of the majesty of Your glory.
Lord, fill my soul this morning with suitable views of Your
greatness, and a humbling estimate of my own nothingness. I would lie low at
Your 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-glorifying
imagination.
Let me feel I cannot abase myself enough in Your presence.
"Lord, I am vile; what can I answer You?" 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 Savior.
Here, Lord, give me that grace You have 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 You. 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 You—and that it well becomes me to be
"clothed with humility." Oh, let me meekly and submissively lose my own will
in Yours, in childlike teachableness, saying—"What will You have me to do?"
May no murmur escape my lips at Your dealings. May this lowliness of spirit
lead me rather to wonder at Your 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 strong by those of covenant grace. Bless Your cause and
kingdom in the world. May Your Spirit descend "like rain upon the mown grass,
and showers that water the earth."
I commit myself to You, and to the word of Your grace.
Guide me this day by Your 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 Your loving-kindness in the morning, for
in You do I trust."