1/1/2024 0 Comments Praey for the gods costAnd you give the horse his might and clothe his neck with a mane. I have not entered the storehouses of the snow or seen the storehouses of the hail. Please continue to remind me of my lack of understanding before you. When I am tempted to complain, help me by your Spirit instead to stand in silent awe before you. What a great gulf lies between me the creature and you the Creator. No, I was not there when you “laid the foundation of the earth” nor when you “determined its measurements and stretched the line upon it” (Job 38:4-5). Forgive me for thinking I know better than you how to run the world and how to redeem it. My ignorant complaints are like dark counsel, words without knowledge. That is me! Help me by your Spirit instead to stand in silent awe before you. I hear you ask Job, “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?” (Job 38:2). On the contrary, it is I who have forgotten about you! I forget who you are and who I am. I think and speak as if you were not working all things for my good, as if you have forgotten about me. I complain about home, health, and hardships. Indeed, I do complain, sometimes inwardly, sometimes outwardly. I confess that I am all too ready to complain about your providence. As the psalmist writes, you are righteous in all your ways and kind in all your works (Ps. You determine the times set for me and all people and the exact places where we should live (Acts 17:25-28). As Paul proclaimed to the skeptics in Athens, you give all men life and breath and everything else. You do whatever pleases you in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and in all their depths (Ps. You sustain all things by your powerful word (Heb.1:3). Nothing escapes your sovereign command-not the most powerful institution or ruler imaginable, nor the least significant speck just biding its time. You uphold, direct, and govern all creatures, actions and objects, from the greatest even to the least. I praise you not only as the Creator of all things but also the Sustainer. Westminster Confession of Faith, 5.1 You sustain all things by your powerful word. 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. The Westminster Confession of Faith-Of Providence To learn more about the history of the Westminster Standards, please click here. This is the fifth installment in a series of prayers based on the Westminster Confession of Faith (1647).
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