Monday, January 14, 2008

Prayer for Divine Comfort (Augustine of Hippo 354-430)

My Holy Lord and God,
You are most majestic and most excellent, most strong and most omnipotent.
You are most merciful and most fair; most hidden and most truly present.
You are stable, yet without foundation; permanent, yet flexible in all things.
You change Your ways, leaving Your plans unchanged; You recover what You have never lost.
You are never young, yet never old; always searching, yet possessing all of creation
You are always working, ever at rest:
Restoring, Sustaiing, and Protecting;
Creating, Nourishing, and Developing;
Drawing all things to You, yet needing nothing.
You are never in need but rejoice at Your gains; You are never greedy, yet You demand a return.
Men try to pay more than is required to make you a debtor;
yet who can possess anything at all which is not already Yours?
You owe men nothing, yet You are faithful as if in debt to Your own creature,
when you cancel debts you have lost nothing.
You love, yet without prejudice; You are jealous, yet attentive;
Yet, O my God, my life, my holy joy, what is this that I have said?
What can anyone say when he speaks to You? But woe to them that keep silent.
Unless Your ears attend us even in the depths, where should we go? To whom should we cry?
O Lord, deliver us who now call upon You, so that our hearts may rest.
O Lord, seek also those who have not called upon You, so that You also deliver them.
Our hearts were made for You, O Lord, and they are restless until they rest in you.

2 comments:

preacherman said...

I love this prayer of Divine Comfort and enjoy reading your comments on Mike Cope's blog. I pray that God will bless you this year during 2008!
In Him,
Kinney Mabry

Unknown said...

Thanks for writing it out so I could use it two and a half years later! We miss you!