Provident praying

   We were talking in the adult Sunday school class last Lord’s Day about the importance of understanding the Bible’s teaching concerning the providence of God.  The Shorter Catechism defines “providence” as God’s “most holy, wise and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures, and all their actions.” (Q.11)

   The Confession of Faith elaborates, “God the great Creator of all things doth uphold, direct, dispose, and govern all creatures, actions, and things, from the greatest even to the least, by his most wise and holy providence, according to his infallible foreknowledge, and the free and immutable counsel of his own will, to the praise of the glory of his wisdom, power, justice, goodness, and mercy.” (ch. 5, sect. 1)

   These are great statements.  But we need more than crisp theological summaries.  When we face the bumps and bruises, the setbacks and tragedies of life in this fallen world, we need to be able to make daily practical use of this comforting doctrine.  And that requires that you become familiar with the biblical texts behind the summaries, you must mediate upon the sovereign power, wisdom, and goodness of God, and your prayers must explicitly reflect what you believe.

   Here is a good example of such praying from The Valley of Vision (a wonderful collection of Puritan prayers and meditations):

Thou art all my good in times of peace, 

my only support in days of trouble,

my one sufficiency when life shall end. 

Help me to see how good thy will is in all,

and even when it crosses mine

teach me to be pleased with it. 

Grant me to feel thee in fire, and food and every providence,

and to see that thy many gifts and creatures 

are but thy hands and fingers taking hold of me. 

Thou bottomless fountain of all good, 

I give myself to thee out of love, 

for all I have or own is thine,

my goods, family, church, self,

to do with as thou wilt, 

to honour thyself by me, and by all mine. 

If it be consistent with thy eternal counsels, 

the purpose of thy grace, 

and the great ends of thy glory, 

then bestow upon me the blessings of thy comforts;

If not, let me resign myself to thy wiser determinations.

— from a piece entitled “The All-Good”