The Joyful Prayer of Augustine: Often when thinking of Augustine I remember the man who allegorized eschatology – rejected premillennialism, converted to amillennialism.
It would be fair to say that many premillennialists and non-Calvinists avoid reading Augustine. Yet one thing I was taught over the years was that we can learn from people we disagree with, and who are as faulty as we are. For more on Augustine see Dr. Henebury’s blog HERE and HERE.
Augustine’s prayer below is derived from his Confessions and appears in this form in Matthew Barrett’s book “None Greater: The Undomesticated Attributes of God.” Barrett writes that in discovering this prayer and learning of the attributes of God, he was overwhelmed by joy.
Augustine’s Prayer
Most high, utterly good, utterly powerful, most omnipotent, most merciful and most just, deeply hidden yet most intimately present, perfection of both beauty and strength, stable and incomprehensible, immutable and yet changing all things, never new, never old, making everything new and “leading” the proud “to be old without their knowledge” (Job 9:5, Old Latin version); always active, always in repose, gathering to yourself but not in need, supporting and filling and protecting, creating and nurturing and bringing to maturity, searching even though to you nothing is lacking: you love without burning, you are jealous in a way that is free of anxiety, you “repent” (Gen 6:6) without the pain of regret, you are wrathful and remain tranquil.
You will a change without any change in your design. You recover what you find, yet have never lost. Never in any need, you rejoice in your gains (Luke 15:7); you are never avaricious, yet you require interest (Matt 25:27).
We pay you more than you require so as to make you our debtor, yet who has anything that does not belong to you? (1 Cor 4:7). You pay off debts, though owing nothing to anyone; you cancel debts and incur no loss.
But in these words what have I said, my God, my life, my sweetness? What has anyone achieved in words when he speaks about you? Yet woe to those who are silent about you because, though loquacious with verbosity, they have nothing to say.
Maranatha!
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