FAMILY PRAYERS
BY John MacDuff, 1885
Prayer for one in dangerous illness
O God, our Heavenly Father, in You we live, and move, and
have our being. We rejoice to think that Your hand is never shortened, that
it cannot save—that Your ear is never heavy, that it cannot hear. We thank
You for Your own recorded promise, that the prayer of faith, if consistent
with Your blessed will, will save the sick. We entreat You to look down in
great mercy on that member of our family who is this day laid on a bed of
languishing. May it please You of Your infinite goodness speedily to restore
him. Rebuke his disease. Bring him back from the gates of the grave. May
this sickness not be unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of
God may be glorified thereby. Mitigate the severity of pain. Grant him
patience under his sufferings, and unmurmuring submission to the will of Him
who afflicts not willingly. His times are in Your hands. We commend him soul
and body to You, the great Physician. If You see fit to raise him up, may
restored health and strength be more than ever given unto him; but if You
have otherwise determined, fit him for his eternal change. To him to live,
may it be Christ—to him to die may it be great gain.