We are grateful,
Father, that You are the God who is always near to Your people. Others have
their own gods, and these gods promise much, but they are never near to act for
the good of those who worship them. But that's not You. You are always near to
us. You are Immanuel.
You are near to
watch over us wherever we are and whatever we are doing. You are near to guide
us through the maze of this life with its confusion and evil. You are near to
defend us. We have our enemies. And the worst enemies are invisible to us.
Satan and his devils hate us and want to do whatever they can to undo us. But
You are near. As we seek refuge under Your wings, we are completely safe.
And You are near to correct us. You do that gently, as the caring Father that
You are. And don't we need to be corrected. We barely understand this life and
our place in it. We have been misled in so many different ways, some of them
innocent mistakes and some of them malicious. And there is so much of this that
we just don't see. So, we need Your correction and are so very grateful for it.
Thank You, Father,
for being the kind of God that You are for us, a God who is so very near.
But there are too
many times that we don't believe this part of the Gospel. There are too many
times that we believe that we are on our own. And so, we try to navigate life
based on what we think that we know instead of depending on Your wisdom. This
is so foolish. And it is insulting to You, Father. We are ashamed of ourselves
because of that. But on top of that, it's just plain stupid. Here You are,
offering Yourself to us, offering Your wisdom, and we ignore You and strike out
on our own. Pretty dumb. So, we ask, Father, that You would forgive us this
terrible sin. Grant us the grace that we need to see it for what it is so that
we would grow to hate it like You do. And then, by Your Spirit, teach our
hearts to believe this part of the Gospel, to believe it vigorously. You are
the God who is near, who is always near. Life would be so very different if we
were to believe that more than we do. Grant us the grace that we need so that
we could make progress in this.
We ask this, Father,
not primarily for our benefit, though there is much benefit here for us. We ask
this so that our lives would be a means that You could use to reveal Yourself
to the people around us. There are so many who have such a low opinion of You.
And no wonder. Far too many Christians give them good reason to have a low
opinion of You. So, change us, teach us, correct us some more so that we would
live the truth before the watching eyes of those around us to the end that they
would come and bow before You, the only true God. Through Christ our Lord,
Amen.