Last Sunday I was talking with a couple who have several children yet always seem to “have their act together” on Sunday morning. The mom explained to me that she lays out her children’s clothes on Saturday evening and works with her husband to make sure that they are “good to go” on Sunday morning.
I commended them for this routine, saying that in addition to avoiding frenetic, last-minute preparations on Sunday morning, it helps the family to get into a mindset for worship on Saturday evening. My parents did the same thing, as did my wife and I when our children were young.
Ecclesiastes 5:1 says, “Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil.” That is to say, we are not to approach worship haphazardly, but whole-heartedly.
Ken Ramey rightly warns,
When you fail to plan ahead, Sunday morning ends up becoming a chaotic crisis, and by the time you get to church, you are frustrated and frazzled and your heart is in no condition to receive the Word. But when you plan well and are able to arrive in a relaxed, leisurely way, you will be in a much more receptive frame of mind.
To help us to prepare well for Sunday worship, Ken Ramey offers some practical suggestions that are summarized well by Tim Challies, which you can read by clicking here.
The purpose of this post is to aid you in such preparations with a Saturday evening prayer. This comes from The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions. Because they were written a few centuries ago, the language of these prayers is a bit antiquated, like the King James Version of the Bible. But, as one pastor-friend of mine put it, “When used slowly, for meditation and prayer, these [prayers] have often been used by God’s Spirit to kindle my dry heart.”
So here is a prayer that I trust will end your week on a worshipful note in anticipation of the Lord’s Day.
LORD’S DAY EVE
GOD OF THE PASSING HOUR,
Another week has gone and I have been preserved in my going out, in my coming in.
Thine has been the vigilance that has turned threatened evils aside;
Thine the supplies that have nourished me;
Thine the comforts that have indulged me;
Thine the relations and friends that have delighted me;
Thine the means of grace which have edified me;
Thine the Book, which, amidst all my enjoyments, has told me that this is not my rest, that in all successes one thing alone is needful, to love my Savior.
Nothing can equal the number of thy mercies but my imperfections and sins.
These, O God, I will neither conceal nor palliate, but confess with a broken heart.
In what condition would secret reviews of my life leave me were it not for the assurance that with thee there is plenteous redemption, that thou art a forgiving God, that thou mayest be feared!
While I hope for pardon though the blood of the cross,
I pray to be clothed with humility,
to be quickened in thy way,
to be more devoted to thee,
to keep the end of my life in view,
to be cured of folly of delay and indecision,
to know how frail I am,
to number my days and apply my heart unto wisdom.
Amen.