O God of Grace

In our last prayer letter, Danielle and I shared a bit about how we have been reading some of the writings of our Puritan forbears and brothers in Christ.  What an amazingly deep and beautiful treasure, filled with God’s grace, we have been discovering.  

​What has been one of the most apparent and striking things that we have noticed has been the ability of the Puritans to have seen the sin in their own lives and to have had a deep desire to repent.  I’m not just talking about flippant, going through the motions repenting.  I’m talking about heart-wrenching, difficult, nakedly honest repenting that mines down deep into the darkest places into their very souls.  This has been truly inspiring.  There is also this sense that this is not just a high and mighty, self-righteousness that is covering guilty feelings for some bad done.  But rather, these were a people who were pursuing true relationship and fellowship with a Holy God. 

Besides their ability and desire to repent, another element in the Puritan writings that stands out to me is how they were able to fully express the love, grace, mercy, justice, etc., of our Lord for His creation and all that is in it.  That includes me and you. 

I pray that during this Thanksgiving season, and indeed at all times just like our Puritan brothers, we could be reminded to turn to our Lord and Savior and pray, truly pray to Him to repent of our sins, to ask for forgiveness and that we would be in true fellowship with Elohim, the Creator of all things. 

Please consider the following prayer as an example from The Valley of Vision published by Banner of Truth.  

Read it slowly and linger over the words. 

This is true beauty. 

Be filled with the exceeding wonder of the grace of our Lord. 

O GOD OF GRACE
Thou hast imputed my sin to my substitute,
      and hast imputed his righteousness
    to my soul,
  clothing me with a bridegroom’s robe,
  decking me with jewels of holiness.
But in my Christian walk I am still in rags;
  my best prayers are stained with sin;
  my penitential tears are so much impurity;
  my confessions of wrong are so many
    aggravations of sin;
  my receiving the Spirit is tinctured with
    selfishness.

I need to repent of my repentance;
I need my tears to be washed;
I have no robe to bring to cover my sins,
  no loom to weave my own righteousness;
I am always standing clothed in filthy garments,
  and by grace am always receiving change of
    raiment,
  for thou dost always justify the ungodly;
I am always going into the far country,
  and always returning home as a prodigal,
  always saying, Father, forgive me,
  and thou art always bringing forth
    the best robe.
Every morning let me wear it,
  every evening return in it,
  go out to the day’s work in it,
  be married in it,
  be wound in death in it,
  stand before the great white throne in it,
  enter heaven in it shining as the sun.
Grant me never to lose sight of
  the exceeding sinfulness of sin,
  the exceeding righteousness of salvation,
  the exceeding glory of Christ,
  the exceeding beauty of holiness,
  the exceeding wonder of grace.