Counting Our Blessings: A Prayer about God’s Providence
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This is the fifth installment in a series of prayers based on the Westminster Confession of Faith (1647). To learn more about the history of the Westminster Standards, please click here.
The Westminster Confession of Faith—Of Providence
God the great Creator of all things doth uphold, direct, dispose, and govern all creatures, actions, and things, from the greatest even to the least, by his most wise and holy providence, according to his infallible foreknowledge, and the free and immutable counsel of his own will, to the praise of the glory of his wisdom, power, justice, goodness, and mercy. — Westminster Confession of Faith, 5.1
You sustain all things by your powerful word.
Father in heaven,
I praise you not only as the Creator of all things but also the Sustainer. You uphold, direct, and govern all creatures, actions and objects, from the greatest even to the least. Nothing escapes your sovereign command—not the most powerful institution or ruler imaginable, nor the least significant speck just biding its time. You sustain all things by your powerful word (Heb.1:3).
You do this all for our good.
You do whatever pleases you in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and in all their depths (Ps. 135:6). As Paul proclaimed to the skeptics in Athens, you give all men life and breath and everything else. You determine the times set for me and all people and the exact places where we should live (Acts 17:25-28). And you do this all for our good. As the psalmist writes, you are righteous in all your ways and kind in all your works (Ps. 145:17).
I forget who you are and who I am.
I confess that I am all too ready to complain about your providence. Indeed, I do complain, sometimes inwardly, sometimes outwardly. I complain about home, health, and hardships. I think and speak as if you were not working all things for my good, as if you have forgotten about me. On the contrary, it is I who have forgotten about you! I forget who you are and who I am. I hear you ask Job, “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?” (Job 38:2). That is me!
Help me by your Spirit instead to stand in silent awe before you.
My ignorant complaints are like dark counsel, words without knowledge. Forgive me for thinking I know better than you how to run the world and how to redeem it. No, I was not there when you “laid the foundation of the earth” nor when you “determined its measurements and stretched the line upon it” (Job 38:4-5). What a great gulf lies between me the creature and you the Creator. When I am tempted to complain, help me by your Spirit instead to stand in silent awe before you.
You are the God of all wisdom.
Please continue to remind me of my lack of understanding before you. I have not entered the storehouses of the snow or seen the storehouses of the hail. You have. And you give the horse his might and clothe his neck with a mane. You make him leap like the locust, and you terrify through his majestic snorting. By your understanding the hawk soars and spreads his wings toward the south. At your command, the eagle mounts up and makes his nest on high (Job 38-39). You are the God of all wisdom, and your wisdom extends to your providence.
Forgive me and cleanse me from my low view of your providence.
Your providence is powerful and good. Your word tells me that your providence is most wise and holy because it is in perfect harmony with your infallible knowledge (Acts 15:18; Ps. 94:8-11) and the free and immutable counsel of your will (Eph. 1:11). “The plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of your heart through all generations” (Ps. 33:11).
Nothing can thwart your plan.
Father, your trustworthy providence comforts me. Both during my life and after I die, your plans will be carried out for my children, loved ones, and the various people I serve. I rejoice at the thought that nothing can thwart your plan. You are worthy of all glory for your sustaining providence!
Your providence reveals your infinite wisdom, power, justice, goodness and mercy.
Help me to see your hand in my life specifically and in history worldwide. You have been good to me, time and again, in ways that no one else could. Most of all, you sent your son Jesus Christ into the world to live a perfect life in my place, and to suffer the pains for my sin which I deserve. You then raised Jesus from the dead for my justification and poured out your Spirit, so that I would recognize Jesus Christ for who he is, revealed in your word. You have sent your people to show Christ to me, by teaching and by example. Thank you. Although there is much that remains a mystery in your providence, there is much that is already revealed. Your providence reveals your infinite wisdom, power, justice, goodness, and mercy. To you be all glory and praise.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.
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