Eternal Father,
You are good beyond all thought,
But we are vile, wretched, miserable, blind;
Our lips are ready to confess,
But our hearts are slow to feel,
And our ways reluctant to amend.
We bring our souls to you;
Break them, wound them, bend them, mold them.
Unmask to us sin’s deformity,
That we may hate it, abhor it, flee from it.
Our faculties have been a weapon of revolt against You;
As rebels we have misused our strength,
And served the foul adversary of your kingdom.
Give us grace to lament our unfeeling folly,
Grant us to know that the way of transgressors is hard,
That evil paths are wretched paths,
That to depart from You is to lose all good.
We have seen the purity and beauty of your perfect law,
The happiness of those in whose heart it reigns,
The calm dignity of the walk to which it calls,
Yet we daily violate and contempt its precepts.
Your loving Spirit strives within us,
Brings us Scripture warnings,
Speaks in startling providences,
Allures by secret whispers,
Yet we choose devices and desires to our own hurt,
Irreverent resent, grieve, and provoke Him to abandon us.
All these sins we mourn, lament, and for them cry pardon.
Work in us more profound and abiding repentance;
Give us the fullness of a godly grief
That trembles and fears,
Yet ever trusts and loves,
Which is ever powerful, and ever confident;
Grant that through the tears of repentance
We may see more clearly the brightness
And glories of the saving cross.
Amen.
Adapted from The Valley of Vision. Published by Banner of Truth.