No one except another pastor can truly understand what
Monday mornings are like in ministry. I
know that some folks will never understand how physically, emotionally,
mentally and spiritually taxing Sundays can be. Not because we don’t love God’s people and
love worship and love fellowship, etc. All
of those are great positives.
But for those who take seriously the proclamation of God’s
Word, and do so on a regular basis, Sundays are “hard work.” Most of us put a lot of prayer, study and
effort into preparing Sunday messages. Our hearts go into those things. We speak God’s Word with both joy and fear in
our hearts: joy because of the great privilege, fear because of the great
responsibility.
Sometimes, the Word is received with great joy and amazing response.
If we’re honest, much more often the
response is less enthusiastic. Speaking
only for myself, it’s extremely discouraging to pour your heart into a message,
only to have people whispering and giggling through it, or watching cute babies
instead of listening, or any host of other distracted actions. At the end, it occasionally feels as though I’ve
spent the last half hour pleading with a brick wall.
Please don’t misunderstand.
I’m not just whining (although maybe a little). People come into church on Sunday with a week’s
worth of baggage: life and death and illness and family and job and on and on. I understand, and I even sympathize. I don’t expect “revival” every Sunday. Quite honestly, I know my limitations as a
preacher and I’m amazed when anyone listens at all.
But I’m also just a man, and weariness and discouragement
and even self-pity creep their way into my heart just like anyone else’s. And because I truly believe the things I’m
proclaiming, I want more than anything for these truths to be received and
embraced and I’m frustrated when it seems to fall on deaf ears. (OK, so maybe I am just whining).
Anyway, all of this is just to say that I’ve been encouraged
over the years by this prayer from the Valley of Vision. This wonderful collection of Puritan prayers
is an inspiration to many, and at the end is a series of prayers designated for
certain days. I’ve always found it
profoundly appropriate that the prayer assigned for Monday morning (Second Day Morning) centers on the Sovereignty of God in all things.
On Monday mornings I need this wonderful reminder that all
things are in God’s hands, His eternal plans are far beyond my little corner of
the world, He has already done so much, and He is still at work, sovereignly moving
all things according to His plans for His glory.
So, the whining is the backdrop. Here’s the prayer. I hope it's an encouragement for you whoever you are.
O God
All-Sufficient,
Thou hast made and upholdest all things
by the word of thy power;
darkness is thy pavilion,
thou walkest on the wings of the
wind;
all nations are nothing before
thee;
one generation succeeds another,
and we hasten back to the dust;
the heavens we behold will vanish
away
like the clouds that
cover them,
the earth we tread on will
dissolve
as a morning dream;
But thou,
unchangeable and incorruptible,
art for ever and ever,
God over all, blessed eternally.
Infinitely great and
glorious art thou.
We are thy offspring
and thy care.
Thy hands have made
and fashioned us.
Thou hast watched
over us with
more than parental
love,
more than maternal
tenderness.
Thou hast holden our
soul in life,
and not suffered our feet to be
moved.
Thy divine power has
given us all things
necessary for life and godliness.
Let us bless thee at
all times and forget not
how thou hast
forgiven our iniquities,
healed our diseases,
redeemed our lives from
destruction,
crowned us with lovingkindness
and
tender mercies,
satisfied our mouths with good
things,
renewed our youth like the
eagle’s.
May thy Holy
Scriptures
govern every part of our lives,
and regulate the discharge of all
our duties,
so that we may adorn thy doctrine
in all things.
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