MY DEAR LORD
I depend wholly upon thee,
wean me from all other dependences.
Thou art my all, thou dost overrule all
and delight in me.
Thou art the foundation of goodness,
how can I distrust thee?
how be anxious about what happens to me?
In the light of thy preciousness
the world and all its enjoyments are
infinitely poor:
I value the favour of men no more than pebbles.
Amid the blessings I receive from thee
may I never lose the heart of a stranger.
May I love thee, my Benefactor, in all my benefits,
not forgetting that my greatest danger
arises from my advantages.
Produce in me self-despair that will
make Jesus precious to me,
delightful in all his offices,
pleasurable in all his ways,
and may I love his commands
as well as his promises.
Help me to discern between true and false love,
the one consisting of supreme love to thee,
the other not,
the former uniting thy glory and man’s happiness
that they may become one common interest,
the latter disjointing and separating them both,
seeking the latter with neglect of the former.
Teach me that genuine love is different in kind
from that wrought by rational arguments
or the motive of self-interest,
that such love is a pleasing passion affording
joy to the mind where it is.
Grant me grace to distinguish
between the genuine and the false,
and to rest in thee who art all love.
Valley of Vision is copyrighted. This text was copied with permission from Banner of Truth.