"Prepare to meet thy God."--Amos iv. 12.
O God, Thou art daily loading me with Thy benefits. Thou art making
the outgoings of the evening and morning to rejoice over me, giving me
unnumbered causes for gratitude and thankfulness. No earthly friend
could have loved and cared for me like Thee. Oh may the life Thou art
thus preserving by Thine unceasing bounty be unreservedly dedicated to
Thy praise.
Lord, keep me mindful that I am soon to be done with this world, that
I am fast borne along the stream of time to an endless futurity. "It
is appointed unto all once to die, and after death the judgment." May
I be living in a constant state of preparedness for that solemn hour
when small and great shall stand before God, and the books shall be
opened. Educate me for eternity. Let me not be frittering away these
fleeting but precious moments. Impress on me the solemn conviction
that "as men live so do men die," that as death leaves me so will
judgment find me. Oh let death leave me falling asleep in Jesus,
united to Him by a living faith, that so judgment may find me seated
at His right hand, listening to the joyous welcome, "Come, ye blessed
of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation
of the world."
Blessed Jesus, all my hope of a glorious resurrection centres in Thee.
I look to Thee as the strong tower which cannot be shaken. I flee anew
to the holy sanctuary of Thy covenant love. Sheltered there, amid a
dissolving earth, and burning worlds, I shall be able joyfully to
utter the challenge, "Who shall separate me from the love of Christ?"
Meanwhile may I seek to "occupy" till my Lord comes. Keep me from all
negligence and unwatchfulness. Trim my flickering lamp. Let me live
with Thy Judgment-throne in view. Whether waking or sleeping, may I
bear about with me the thought that I must soon give an account of
myself to God. May I feel that all the talents and means Thou hast
given me are trusts to be laid out for Thee. When thou comest to
demand a reckoning, may I not be among the number of those who have
hid their talent in the earth, and have the cheerless retrospect of a
misspent time.
Lord! bless my friends, reward my benefactors, forgive my enemies.
Sanctify sorrow to all the sons and daughters of trial. May the torch
of Thy love light up their gloomy prospects. May every providential
voice sound loud in their ears, "Arise and depart ye, for this is not
your rest!"
Gracious God, watch over me during the night, and grant that at last,
when all earth's evenings and mornings shall have passed away, I may,
on the great day-break of glory, wake up in Thy likeness, through Him
in whom is all my hope, and to whom, with Thee, O Father, and Thee,
ever blessed Spirit, one God, be everlasting praise, honor, and glory,
world without end. Amen.
"LET MY PRAYER BE SET FORTH BEFORE THEE AS
INCENSE: AND THE LIFTING UP OF MY HANDS
AS THE EVENING SACRIFICE."