By Sydney Edwards
“O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens” (Psalm 8:1). You have created the world and everything it holds and your creation cries the praise of their Creator. Even marred by sin and death the earth you have formed is beautiful and you continue to provide life. We as human beings live and breathe for your glory. Yet, “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
In my sin, O Lord, I had not given praise where it was due. I worshipped the created things around me instead of the creator. I searched for happiness and truth in all the wrong places, thinking that my knowledge and reason could surely find those things which my soul longed for. I was lost as the worldly things I put my trust in failed time and time again. I had “gone astray like a lost sheep,” and in my distress you found me (Psalm 119:176). You have said “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11). You saved me from my own wickedness and redeemed my soul. You filled my soul with the truth of your salvation and steadfast love. “I lift my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, maker of heaven and earth” (Psalm 121:1-2).
I now join the rest of your creation in giving you glory. For who am I to think that, putting my trust in myself, by my understanding and insight I might find truth? For the very knowledge I have is given by you in your grace. “Who has put wisdom in the inward parts or given understanding to the mind” (Job 38:36)? I now “know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture” (Psalm 100:3).
Evangel member Sydney Edwards has just returned from her freshman year at Houston Baptist University where she is studying nursing. This spring she had the opportunity to read and study Augustine’s Confessions and in response to the book she wrote this reflection, imitating Augustine’s style in her own prayer. Like Augustine, Sydney turned Scriptures into prayer.