God The All - A Prayer

A few months ago a friend sent us a copy of the book, The Valley of Vision - A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions. It contains a few hundred prayers written by, obviously, Puritans. I was glad to get it. It is far superior to most of the stuff I get in the mail.

In the preface I found a definition of prayer written by the editor, Arthur Bennett. I’m always interested in seeing someone’s definition (or description) of a Biblical term. He says, “… prayer is communion with a transcendent and immanent God who on the ground of his nature and attributes calls forth all the powers of the redeemed soul in acts of total adoration and dedication.” Think about that for awhile. Prayer is communion (fellowship, intimate connection) with a transcendent (superior, completely other, outside of all, supreme) and immanent (internal, abiding everywhere) God who on the ground of his nature (essence, form, that which one is) and attributes (characteristics, assets, qualities) calls forth all the powers of the redeemed soul ( Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me…” [Ps. 103:1]). in acts of total adoration (deeply loving, cherishing) and dedication (devotion, commitment).

Getting on with the story, I came to the second prayer and got stuck. Gladly, this is the kind of book you can pick up and put down at various times. And that is what I have been doing. I pick it up and deal a little with the second prayer and put it down. That has now happened several times.

Why can’t I move on? First, it is just that good. I like it. It is food. It is real prayer. Secondly, and this is likely the real hang-up, it coincides a lot with what I have learned from reading John Piper. The supremacy of God and the joy therein is the substance of the prayer.

For both your and my benefit and enjoyment I have reproduced this prayer below. Following it I have reproduced it again and added a few of the thoughts I have when meditating on it. If in God’s good providence you desire a copy of the book for yourself, click http://www.banneroftruth.org/pages/item_detail.php?4461


GOD THE ALL

O GOD WHOSE WILL CONQUERS ALL,
There is no comfort in anything
apart from enjoying thee
and being engaged in thy service;
Thou art All in all, and all enjoyments are what to me
thou makest them, and no more.
I am well pleased with thy will, whatever it is,
or should be in all respects,
And if thou bidst me decide for myself in any affair
I would choose to refer all to thee.
for thou art infinitely wise and cannot do amiss,
as I am in danger of doing.
I rejoice to think that all things are at thy disposal,
and it delights me to leave them there.
Then prayer turns wholly into praise,
and all I can do is to adore and bless thee.
What shall I give thee for all thy benefits?
I am in a strait betwixt two, knowing not what to do;
I long to make some return, but have nothing to offer,
and can only rejoice that thou doest all,
that none in heaven or on earth shares thy honour;
I can of myself do nothing to glorify thy blessed name,
but I can through grace cheerfully surrender soul and body to
thee,
I know that thou art the author and finisher of faith,
that the whole work of redemption is thine alone,
that every good work or thought found in me
is the effect of thy power and grace,
that thy sole motive of working in me to will and to do
is for thy good pleasure.
O God, it is amazing that men can talk so much
about man’s creaturely power and goodness,
when, if thou didst not hold us back every moment,
we should be devils incarnate.
This, by bitter experience, thou hast taught me concerning myself.

GOD THE ALL

O GOD WHOSE WILL CONQUERS ALL,
A proper statement of free will, it is God who has it, not man.
“… My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure” (Is. 46:10).
There is no comfort in anything
apart from enjoying thee
and being engaged in thy service;
The ultimate goal - the enjoyment and service of God himself.
Thou art All in all, and all enjoyments are what to me
thou makest them, and no more.
All that is seeks its consummation in God. All enjoyments given by God are pleasurable but cannot be an end in themselves. They are merely shadows of the enjoyment of God alone and thus remind us of and point to the enjoyment of him.
I am well pleased with thy will, whatever it is,
or should be in all respects,
“… Thy will be done…“ (Matt. 6:10). What a blessing to be content with whatever God chooses to do.
And if thou bidst me decide for myself in any affair
I would choose to refer all to thee.
for thou art infinitely wise and cannot do amiss,
as I am in danger of doing.
God knows me better than I know myself. Thus his decisions concerning me are wiser than my own. It is impossible for him to foul up. It is natural for me to foul up. The understanding that God is all-knowing and all-powerful makes it wise to defer all decisions to him. And if there is no apparent guidance from God, it is comforting to know that “A man's heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps” (Prov. 16:9).
I rejoice to think that all things are at thy disposal,
and it delights me to leave them there.
Here is a joy - knowing that God is doing what he wills with his creation and a delight - thinking, “That’s how it should be.” This is a joy and a delight that easily ends in the proper place - God.
Then prayer turns wholly into praise,
and all I can do is to adore and bless thee.
I see this as the climax to this prayer. When one’s heart is satisfied with God and his actions, content that God is doing all things well, the heart has nowhere else to go but to praise and adoration. One enters into the place where we will happily spend eternity - the ecstasy of the worship of God.
What shall I give thee for all thy benefits?
I am in a strait betwixt two, knowing not what to do;
I long to make some return, but have nothing to offer,
and can only rejoice that thou doest all,
that none in heaven or on earth shares thy honour;
I can of myself do nothing to glorify thy blessed name,
but I can through grace cheerfully surrender soul and body to
thee,
How can God be paid for all he has done? He can’t. And if there were a price demanded, one has nothing anyway. All is of grace. Everything being of grace leaves one with nothing but joy in and adoration of God. And if joy and adoration are all one has, then it is clear that it is a gift of God. The Father adores the Son and Jesus likewise delights in His Father. To be placed in between the two of them and experience and become a part of the mutual admiration of the Father and the Son is the greatest gift. It is also the only way for one to give to God, yet its author is God himself and of a necessity must be.
I know that thou art the author and finisher of faith,
that the whole work of redemption is thine alone,
that every good work or thought found in me
is the effect of thy power and grace,
that thy sole motive of working in me to will and to do
is for thy good pleasure.
Faith is a gift of God. He authors it and finishes it. He begins it and he ends it. Likewise redemption is solitarily his work. It had to be, for “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God” (Rom. 3:10,11). If a truly good work is found in someone, it is of an origin not found in this world system or in the person himself. It is rather a miracle. It is of grace and the power of God. It is God working his will, doing what pleases him. This takes us back to the beginning of this prayer - “O GOD WHOSE WILL CONQUERS ALL….”
O God, it is amazing that men can talk so much
about man’s creaturely power and goodness,
when, if thou didst not hold us back every moment,
we should be devils incarnate.
God grants a common grace to man so that man does much less evil than he is capable of doing. Yet man is clueless and of course ungrateful for this mercy. To the contrary he praises himself and others (others who will repay him for his praise). Men bestow honor on men and not on God. What a horrendous development, a dreadful, incomprehensible sin.
This, by bitter experience, thou hast taught me concerning myself.
Yes. Father, restrain me at all times - especially on the freeway. …No, everywhere…… just be merciful to me a sinner.