Helpless, hopeless, friendless, portionless

(John MacDuff, "Family Prayers" 1885)   LISTEN to audio!  Download audio

(You will find it helpful to listen to the audio above, as you read the text below.)

O Eternal, Everlasting God, Fountain of all happiness, God of all grace-we desire to acknowledge anew with grateful hearts, Your undeserved mercies. You have made our cup to overflow with blessings. From the very threshold of our being, You have been our Protector and Guardian. You have shielded us from unknown dangers. You have warded off unseen calamities. No earthly friend could have loved us and cared for us, like You!

Helpless, hopeless, friendless, portionless by nature, we cast ourselves on Him who is help and hope and friend and portion-to all who seek Him. We have no trust but in His work. Sprinkle these polluted hearts with His pardoning, peace-speaking blood. Hide us in the clefts of the smitten Rock. Safely sheltered there, we can make the triumphant challenge, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?"

We mourn . . .
  our distance and estrangement from You,
  our guilty departures,
  our coldness and insensibility.
Let Your wondrous patience and kindness lead us to repentance. Turn us, Lord, and we shall be turned! Draw us and we shall run after You! May every thought, and affection, and feeling, and temper-be brought into captivity to the obedience of Jesus. May we love what He loves-and hate what He hates. May we know the happiness of true holiness; and rejoice in doing Your holy will.