“You have been, and always will be, the same perfectly good God” by Peter Sanlon

“O God, in times of suffering, life closes in.

My struggles and pain seem to surround me.

Please open my heart to You.

Lift my eyes to see Your goodness.

Help me to believe that You are not only all good, but good to me.

You have given me so many good gifts, which I do not deserve.

Even the pain and sadness are a gift from Your kind hand, though I cannot yet understand Your purposes.

When life seems out of control, help me to accept that You are in control.

I cannot see beyond today; I trust that You know the end before the beginning.

You have foretold Your saving plans in Scripture.

Your faithfulness and power have been proven many times.

Forgive me the times I have become so enveloped by my suffering that I have forgotten You, blamed You and doubted You.

Thank You that You have never changed: You have been, and always will be, the same perfectly good God.

Give my heart a sense and taste of Your sweet goodness: Your beautiful kindness and generosity.

I long to be refreshed by a sight of Your perfection.

When I look at this fallen world, twisted by sin and suffering, it is difficult to believe that it could ever be better.

Yet I know that You are all-powerful; You are able to bring about Your perfect purposes for Your people.

Please do so not as I, but as You, would have it.

As a sinful creature, limited in so many ways, I am content to trust You.

In Jesus’ name. Amen.”

–Peter Sanlon, Simply God: Recovering the Classical Trinity (Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 2014), 121.