A History of Power and Mercy: A Prayer
Neither has ear heard nor eye seen from days of old a God like you who is working for those who wait. Fear and dismay are cast away as you uphold all who hope in your help and in you find strength.
When darkness overshadowed the earth, you spoke and light appeared. When corruption and violence escalated, your word of command brought the flood, overcoming evil yet saving Noah and his family. When Lot was captured by five Mesopotamian kings, Abram defeated them and rescued his relative, all because of your strong hand. When Joseph moved from the cistern tomb to the temptresses’ house to the Egyptian prison, you were there with him over the entire thirteen years, working in the waiting, and then you raised him up to power and glory and used him to preserve your people Israel.
When the powers of Pharaoh and Egypt stood against your messenger Moses and your nation Israel, you spoke ten plagues that magnified your power, and then redeemed your people by parting the Red Sea and destroying the Egyptian army in the water. And “Israel saw the great power that the LORD used against the Egyptians, and the people feared the LORD, and they believed in the LORD and in his servant Moses” (Exod 14:31).
How great you are, O God. You are for us, not against us. Your mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning––blood bought mercies dawn after dawn after dawn after dawn. Israel tasted this in the wilderness when under divine discipline. There you graciously preserved a remnant, you guided by your word and presence, and you granted daily bread to meet their needs. And when the leader Moses grew old, you raised up Joshua as his immediate successor and yet promised to bring another super prophet like Moses––one whom you would know face to face, who like Moses would do signs and wonders against the enemy powers and prove through mighty power and great deeds of terror that he was the only new covenant mediator, our only savior, our only hope.
As we gather before your presence this day, we praise you for the divine, crucified, resurrected Messiah Jesus, by whose blood your wrath toward your elect was removed and by whose resurrection you have proven that death and darkness and pain and tears have been and will be overcome. Be our help today. Receive our praise today. For the glory of Jesus we pray. . . . Amen.
Jason S. DeRouchie (6/1/14)
