Jim McGuiggan is one of my favorite writer-thinkers among our fellowship. He is a thoughtful and tender man who has helped countless ones of us with both God and life. In his “The Power To See It Through,” he offers the following prayer at the end of his chapter on hope. I may never be able to pray as he prays, but I surely want to see as he sees the Lord. In his prayer may we find encouragement and insight.
“Lord God, who gave strength to Abraham to hope against hope for the fulfillment of Thy promises, we request of Thee that Thou wilt bless us, too, with that power. Lift our restless eyes from the things we see, to thee O Lord, the father of hope. Bless us with balance that we may not ask of ourselves what is only Thy power to accomplish and that we may not ask of Thee what we by Thy grace must do – trust Thee.
May our hope, sovereign Lord, be as alive as He is alive and may we recognize that the ground of our hope is Thy Fatherhood and His resurrection. Deliver us from the anxiety which comes from depending on our own integrity, and enable us, strong Father, to trust not in our love for Thee but in Thy love for us.
And when the tide of things seems to be running against us, when mocking voices ask where our God is and why we should radiantly look to the future when t he earth breaks beneath us, bless us so with Thy presence that we may be ready to give a radiant answer concerning the hope that is within us. We pray with confidence for Thou art faithful Who called us, and You will do it. Amen.”
robert
