NEED OF GRACE

O LORD,
Thou knowest my great unfitness for service,
my present deadness,
my inability to do anything for Thy glory,
my distressing coldness of heart.

I am weak, ignorant, unprofitable,
and loathe and abhor myself.

I am at a loss to know what Thou wouldest have me do,
for I feel amazingly deserted by Thee,
and sense Thy presence so little;

Thou makest me possess the sins of my youth,
and the dreadful sin of my nature,
so that I feel all sin,
I cannot think or act but every motion is sin.

Return again with showers of converting grace
to a poor gospel-abusing sinner.

Help my soul to breathe after holiness,
after a constant devotedness to Thee,
after growth in grace more abundantly every day.

O Lord, I am lost in the pursuit of this blessedness,
And am ready to sink because I fall short of my desire;

Help me to hold out a little longer,
until the happy hour of deliverance comes,
for I cannot lift my soul to Thee
if Thou of Thy goodness bring me not nigh.

Help me to be diffident, watchful, tender,
lest I offend my blessed Friend
in thought and behaviour;

I confide in Thee and lean upon Thee,
and need Thee at all times to assist and lead me.

O that all my distresses and apprehensions
might prove but Christ’s school
to make me fit for greater service
by teaching me the great lesson of humility.

— Puritan poem from “Valley of Vision”

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