Our Lord,
Each of us here today bears not just the guilt of our sin, but also its shame. We know all too well our failings and shortcomings, and its heaviness bears us down. Deep within our spirits we feel the pains of conviction. O how we lament our weakness and sinful propensities. We despise how incredibly corrupt our flesh is. Lord, our souls ache because we quickly offend you and so easily trespass your holy law.
Lord, it is maddening. We fall prey to sin and it pounces upon us long before we have time to think about fending off the temptation. And then the pains of grief, frustration and sorrow berate us. They linger over our hearts as dark clouds. Perhaps Lord, Satan’s greatest victory over us is not so much getting us to stumble into sin, but in making us to languish in it.
This is why we look to you, O God. For you are the only cure for our miserable condition. You yourself have said that a broken spirit dies up the bones. And you are the only one who can mend a broken spirit. Only you can cleanse us from the guilt of our sins and strengthen us against the power of sin. Only you can stabilize us and remove the piercing agony of conviction in our breast.
O God, we pray that you might wash away our sins and fix our minds upon the grace of the gospel. Let us rest in the cross of our dear Lord and find joy in his precious blood. And may we be freed from the restlessness we now experience and sense an all surpassing, supernatural peace that only you can afford.
