Trench: If we with earnest effort could succeed

Tuesday, February 7, 2017
Meditation:
    Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, and they saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness.
    —Exodus 24:9-10 (ESV)
Quotation:
If we with earnest effort could succeed
To make our life one long, connected prayer,
As lives of some perhaps have been and are,
If never leaving Thee, we have no need
Our wandering spirits back again to lead
Into Thy presence, but continued there
Like angels standing on the highest stair
Of the Sapphire Throne: this were to pray indeed!
But if distractions manifold prevail,
And if in this we must confess we fail,
Grant us to keep at least a prompt desire,
Continual readiness for prayer and praise,
An altar heaped and waiting to take fire
With the least spark, and leap into a blaze.
    ... Richard Chenevix Trench (1807-1886), Poems, London: Macmillan, 1874, p. 141 (see the book)
    See also Ex. 24:9-10; Luke 18:1; Rom. 12:12; Eph. 6:18; Col. 4:2; 1 Thess. 5:17; 1 Pet. 4:7; Jude 1:20
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I want to pray without ceasing. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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