Prayer for Composure in Trial

"Even so, Father; for so it seemed good in Your sight." Matthew 11:26

O my Father, I come into Your presence this night, rejoicing that amid all earth's vicissitudes, I have in You - a Rock that can never be shaken. You do according to Your will in the armies of Heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth! You do all things well - and nothing but what is well. There is no finite wisdom in Your dealings - all is the result of combined faithfulness, power, and love. 

Let me repose in the righteous ordinations of Your will. If You withhold from me earthly blessings - let me feel that the very denial is precious, because it is Your sovereign pleasure. Covenant love and wisdom cannot lead or teach me wrong; every burden and affliction are imposed by You. The lot may be thrown into the lap - but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord.

O You who turn the shadow of death into the morning - may every wilderness-storm only drive me nearer Yourself, my true shelter. You take the sting from every cross - and the bitterness from every cup. Let me recognize in all that befalls me - the tokens of my Heavenly Father's love! And if sense and sight should at times fail to spot "the bright light in the cloud," may I see written over every dark trial - Your own unanswerable challenge, "He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all - how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?"

Lord! the end of all Your sovereign dealings - is to subjugate my wayward will, and to unfold more of the preciousness of Jesus. Blessed Spirit of all grace! Take of the things that are Christ's - and show them unto my soul. Let me not stagger at the promises through unbelief. Let me see nothing but love in the past, love in the present, and love looming through the mists of a cloudy future. You, O my Father, are seated by my every furnace - all is meted out, all is provided for; all has a "need be" in it! 

Magnify the power of Your grace in me, by a sweet spirit of patient submission to Your righteous ordinations. May I seek to have no other prayer than this, "Father, glorify Your name." Impart that inner sunshine which no outward darkness or trial can obscure. May the peace of God, which passes understanding, keep my heart.

May Your Holy Spirit shed abroad His blessed influences over the whole Church. Revive Your work, O my God, in the midst of the years. In wrath, remember mercy. May Your ministers be more faithful. May Your people be more holy and consistent in their walk with You. May the young be growing up in Your fear and favor; may the aged find in You the staff of their declining years. May the sick and afflicted pillow their head on Your promises. May the dying fall asleep in Jesus.

I commend myself, my friends, and all belonging to me - to Your paternal care and keeping. And when earth's long night-watches of trial and sorrow are ended, may I wake up in the sorrowless morning of glory, to enjoy uninterrupted fellowship with Yourself. Through Jesus Christ, my only Lord and Savior. Amen.

"Let my prayer be set forth before You as incense - and the lifting up of my hands, as the evening sacrifice."

This Prayer is an excerpt of John MacDuff prayer written in 1856

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