Dear Father, Deliver Us From All Evil

A Lutheran prayer for God's protection from all evil:

Dear Father, give us our daily bread, good seasons, and health. Protect us from war, disease, and drought. If you would tempt me a bit by withholding your blessings for a while, then your will be done. If my time is up and my hour has come, deliver me from all evil. If not, give me strength and patience. Amen.

—Martin Luther, Luther's Prayers (ed. Herbert F. Brokering; Augsberg: Minneapolis, 1994), 95.

The Church's Songs and Soul Care

The hymnal, so theologically rich, is a great source for soul care. I believe David Powlison (certainly not alone) has often pointed this out.

Recently, while thinking and walking through some painful and sorrowful concerns with a dear friend, what came to my mind was this verse from Joachim Neander's 1680 hymn, Praise to the Lord, the Almighty:

Praise to the Lord, who o'er all things so wondrously reigneth,
shelters thee under his wings, yea, so gently sustaineth!
Hast thou not seen how thy desires e'er have been granted in what he ordaineth?

Moved with emotion during this conversation with my friend, what came out was what I've often sung with feeling and felt in the depths of my being, corporately and privately. Singing works like that. What the Lord brought to my mind was not something I'd read (though he certainly does that!), but something I'd sung dozens of times. And because so often what we sing will be the theology that comes out in trials and troubles, we best be singing theologically rich and deep songs, songs we can end with "O the depths!" (Rom. 11:33).

Here also, in brief, is a bit of my brief for recovering the psalms for corporate worship. But I still await that great work. When it comes, expect the mutual counseling ministry in the church to come alive and to sustain and strengthen and encourage and embolden a new generation for God's great glory.

—Praise to the Lord, the Almighty (taken from the Trinity Hymnal, based on Psalm 103, translated by Catherine Winkworth, 1863).

Your Tossings and Tears Amid Fears

Do you know God to be the kind of God who counts your tossings and keeps your tears? Do you know him as a loving heavenly Father who puts your troubled, tear-soaked sleepless nights in his book? (Ps. 56:8). Do you know him as the Almighty God who is assuredly for you? (v. 9). David did. Becaue he's that kind of God and Father. O know him this way, brothers and sisters! And enjoy the deep confidence and trust David knew, calling on God as gracious (v. 1), trusting him amid fears (v. 3), confessing confidently with David, "What can flesh do to me?" (vv. 4, 11). He will deliver your soul from death, your feet from falling, that you may walk before him in the light of life (v. 13).

Oh God, Protect and Provide at Home

A Lutheran prayer for God's providential protection and provision:

Oh, God, grant that all people—in city and country—be diligent and display charity and loyalty toward each other. Give us favorable weather and good harvest. I commend to you my house and property, wife and children. Grant that I may manage and guide them well, supporting and educating them as a Christian should. Defend us against the Destroyer and all his wicked angels who would do us harm and mischief in this life. Amen.

—Martin Luther, Luther's Prayers (ed. Herbert F. Brokering; Augsberg: Minneapolis, 1994), p. 46.

Teach, Preserve, and Protect, O LORD

A Lutheran prayer for instruction, preservation, and protection of the home:

Teach us by your Spirit to manage our homes well and to rule our households in a Christian manner, to your service, praise, and glory. Preserve our children and all in our household from sin and shame, as well as from danger and harm to body and soul. Protect the fruits of the fields and all cattle from lightning, poison, wild beasts, and every possible injury. Amen.

 —Martin Luther, Luther's Prayers (ed. Herbert F. Brokering; Augsberg: Minneapolis, 1994), 34.

God's Actions in Human Actions

In his chapter on Ezra in Theological Interpretation of the Old Testament, John J. Bimson says this about God's sovereign actions:

Ezra 6:14 is particularly telling. The writer informs us that the temple was completed by "command of the God of Israel and the decrees of Cyrus, Darius and Artaxerxes, kings of Persia." Araxerxes actually reigned after the period mentioned in vv. 14-15, but he is included because all three Persian kings fulfilled the command of the God of Israel. The eye of faith does not sharply divide the acts of God from the actions of human rulers (136).

—John J. Bimson, "Ezra," in Theological Interpretation of the Old Testament (eds. Kevin J. Vanhoozer, Craig G. Bartholomew, and Daniel J. Treier; Grand Rapids: Baker, 2008), 132-136.

The God of the Thunderbolt

Expounding Psalm 29, C. H. Spurgeon speaks sanely of God's wondrous works in the world:

"Natural causes, as men call them, are God in action, and we must not ascribe power to them, but to the infinite Invisible who is the true source of all."

And,

"Thunder is in truth no mere electric phenomenon, but is caused by the interposition of God himself. Even the old heathen spake of Jupiter Tonans; but our modern wise men will have us believe in laws and forces, and anything or nothing so that they may be rid of God."

—C. H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, vol. 1, part 2, pp. 29-30. 


We need to see more of what Spurgeon saw in this glorious theater, which we call the universe, and we need to give glory to the God who governs all things after the counsel of his will, no exceptions whatever. Our God, Father, Son, and Spirit, he reigns. Our God is the God of the thunderbolt.

A Diabolical Science

Calvin, commenting on Ps. 29, speaks this wisdom:

Philosophers think not that they have reasoned skillfully enough about inferior causes, unless they separate God very far from his works. It is a diabolical science, however, which fixes our contemplations on the works of nature, and turns them away from God.

We could substitute, today, naturalistic scientists (and those who unwaveringly bow before and follow them) in the place of naturalistic philosophers. But the same diabolical science is still practiced and believed, separating God very far from his works. Naturalism and functional deism, as I've noted before, have a stranglehold on our society. Sadly this all too often includes professing Christians who, reading the likes of Ps. 29, should know better. We should be ashamed of how little we acknowledge God's almighty hand in the created order. Those in his temple should be incessantly shouting, "Glory!" (Ps. 29:9). 

O show us your glory, thundering God of glory, O show us your holy majesty and might, that we might give you, YHWH, the glory due your name, and worship you in the splendor of holiness.

God Moves in a Mysterious Way

William Cowper produced in 1774 what is probably my favorite hymn: God Moves in a Mysterious Way. It expresses the mysteries and glories of Providence, learned through real-life experience of God's all-wise Word and ways.

Cowper battled depression and despair almost all life long. He even spent considerable time in a mental institution. Believing while afflicted of soul, he wrote a number of poems and hymns, one of which has powerfully touched my soul.

So here I reproduce Cowper's hymn that surely is matter for mediation, that surely is the raw material of counseling. No one could go wrong getting it by heart. 

God moves in a mysterious way
his wonders to perform;
he plants his footsteps in the sea,
and rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines
of never failing skill
he treasures up his bright designs
and works his sovereign will.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
the clouds ye so much dread
are big with mercy, and shall break
in blessings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
but trust him for his grace,
behind a frowning providence
he hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast,
unfolding ev'ry hour;
the bud may have a bitter taste,
but sweet will be the flow'r.

Blind unbelief is sure to err,
and scan his work in vain;
God is his own interpreter,
and he will make it plain.

Faced with suffering and loss, these words and others like them are what I want to hear again and again. My wife and I love the doctrine of providence. And we are learning to love and trust the infinitely trustworthy God who reigns supreme still more and more with each passing day as we stand in grace and exult in hope of the glory of God.

God is so wise, so good, so just. We eat and drink ten thousand providential mercies every day. There is no place we'd rather be than in the hands of this sovereign Lord, our heavenly Father, who never errs as he governs all things wisely and well—for his glory and our good. Bless his holy name.

God's Particular Providential Love and Care

Moving through John Owen's On Communion with God, one sentence recently grabbed me, shook me, turned me round, and set me going in a new direction concerning God's merciful providences.  In a section from chapter 5 speaking of Jesus' conjugal tenderness and compassion toward the saints, Owen says a desperately needed word for a North American church in the grip of Arminianism (or, in many instances, Pelagianism) and functional deism:

"Believers are unacquainted with their own condition, if they look upon their mercies as dispensed in a way of common providence" (italics mine).

I don't think we usually even get as far as acknowledging the mercies sent our way from the hand of God moment by moment, day by day, as common, let alone particular.  So we have a long way to go.  Thus I think we're starting further back and lower down from the position Owen targets. 

But Owen's sentence grips me and holds me because I'm appreciating more nowadays how shot through are the daily mercies I enjoy under the particular love and care of God.  To be sure, God causes his rain to fall on just and unjust alike, his sun to shine upon all alike.  And yet, for those who stand in grace, these sorts of "common" mercies are not common, but manifestations and instances of God's particular love and care of those whom he purchased by the death of his Son.  And the purchase of eternal mercies by Christ is applied through his moment by moment intercessory work on behalf of his own.  All the kindnesses, care, provisions, pity, relief, deliverences, delights, and freedoms we enjoy daily are the fruit of Jesus' high priestly heavenly ministry for the elect, the manifestations of God's peculiar providential care of his children.

Oh the depths of mercy and love!  How many divine mercies are untold!  How many not noted, enjoyed, praised!