Philip Doddridge: Piercing Heaven – Puritan’s Prayers

Righteous and holy Sovereign of heaven and earth:

My breath is in your hand. All my ways are in your hand. But I confess I have been far from glorifying you, or conducting myself according to your will.

So I have reason to adore your forbearance and goodness, that you have not long since stopped my breath, and cut me off from the land of the living.

I appreciate your patience. Thank you that I did not, months and years ago, become an inhabitant of hell, where ten thousand delaying sinners are now lamenting their folly, and will be lamenting it forever.

But God, it is very possible that this trifling heart of mine may ultimately betray me into the same ruin.

I am convinced that, sooner or later, I must give serious thought to faith, or I am undone. And yet my foolish heart draws back from the yoke. I stretch out on my lazy bed, and call for a little more sleep.

My corrupt heart pleads against the conviction of my better judgment. Lord, save me from myself! Save me from the deceit of sin! Save me from the treachery of my perverse nature, and fix upon my mind what I have been reading!

I have heard the warnings about the uncertainty of life and the day of salvation. I have made a few lightweight goals, and have begun to take tiny steps in your direction.

But I have only been fluttering around faith. All my intentions have been scattered like smoke, or a vapor before the wind.

Bring these things home to my heart, now, with a more powerful conviction than ever. Pursue me with them!

And if I should be insane enough to try to escape again, let your Spirit use the language of terror. Employ your most powerful tools to awaken me from this deadly stupor—even if it interrupts my workday, or my sleep.

From this moment, Lord, may I be able to recognize a more lasting impression of faith than anything yet made on my heart.

Amen and Amen.