Of the Way

“I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined to me and heard my cry.  He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, Out of the miry clay.”

Our Father, we thank You for wondrous love that raised us out of the very dust of death.  You did not withhold Your Son, Your only Son Jesus, whom You love, but sent our great Redeemer to rescue us and turn Your well-deserved wrath away from us .  We praise you for the obedience of our Good Shepherd Who laid down His life for us, the sheep of His pasture.  No one took it from Him, but He laid it down of His own accord.  We rejoice that the grave could not hold Him, and that in Him neither will it be able to hold us.

Let us come and behold the works that have been wrought by you!  You have made great desolations in the earth.  You make wars cease to the ends of the earth; You break the bow and cut the spear in two; You burn the chariot in the fire.  You smote Pharaoh and Sennacherib with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.  You shattered Sihon and Og with a rod of iron.  You crushed the serpentine heads of Sisera and Abimelech under Your foot, using godly women to accomplish the feat for Your glory.  You avenged the betrayals of Ahithophel and Judas.  You outwitted Ahab, and hanged Haman on his own gallows.  So shall all Your enemies perish!

You are a consuming fire.  You broke out against the sacrilege of Nadab, Abihu, and Uzzah.  You struck down Ananias and Sapphira and caused Simon Magus to perish with his money, but You did not consume the bush when you spoke to Moses, neither did you consume your servants Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego when they were cast into the fiery furnace.  In your mercy, you rescued Joseph out of the miry depths of the dungeon and delivered Daniel out of the den of the lions.  Who is like you, O Lord?  You alone are worthy of our praise, which we offer to you in Jesus’ name through the power of the Holy Spirit, both now and forevermore, world without end.  Amen.