D. Scott Meadows

https://banneroftruth.org/us/devotional/yet-i-sin/

Analysis of the prayer of this title in The Valley of Vision,¹ p. 124

OUTLINE

Eternal Father (supremacy/intimacy; holy love; authority, commitment)

I. Confession of Sin
• I am not good like You
• It is harder to change than to admit I need to change
• Please change my soul for the better
• Show me how vile sin really is
• I have abused my gifts in rebellion against You
• Now I need help to mourn my foolishness as I should
• I also need help to realize such a sinful course is disastrous
• I know the blessedness of the faithful but I disobey anyway
• You graciously bear witness to me in many ways, yet I sin

II. Plea for Spirituality
• These are terrible sins for which I ask Your forgiveness
• Grant me a deeper repentance from them
• Grant me the godly grief that is bitter-sweet and sanctifies me
• Grant me, grieving, to appreciation Christ’s sacrifice more and more

BIBLICAL SUPPORT

• “Eternal Father” justified from Gen 21.33; Deut 33.27; Isa 9.6; 40.28; 63.16.

I. Confession of Sin
• God is incomprehensibly good; we are not, Job 42.5, 6; Isa 6.5; Matt 19.17
• Disparity between our confessions and our change, Isa 29.13; Rom 7.18, 19
Prayer for God to change us, Psa 80.3; Lam 5.21; Jer 17.14; 31.18; Acts 3.26; 11.18; 16.14
• A deeper knowledge of the sinfulness of sin, Rom 7.7
• Abusing gifts from God for wrong purposes, Hos 2.8
• Grace to bewail “insensate folly” (insensitivity to my sin), Luke 15.17-19
• Disaster for sinners, Prov 13.15; 4.19; Eccl 8.12, 13; Jn 5.29
• Remaining sin in believers, Prov 24.16; Rom 7.22, 23
• Abiding witness of God to believers yet we grieve Him, Gen 6.3; Psa 19.11, Eph 4.30

II. Plea for Spirituality
• Mourning for sins, Jas 4.9
• Distinctly helpful repentance, 2 Cor 7.9, 10
• Positive effects of godly repentance, 2 Cor 7.11
• Perceiving the glories of Christ crucified, 1 Cor 1.23, 24; 2.7, 8; 2 Cor 4.3, 4

MAKING THIS PRAYER MINE

• It is not wrong to pray these very words back to God, and may be helpful
• I should take to heart as applying to me everything that this prayer says
• I should let these truths humble my soul and affect my own prayers in my own words, confessing my sins, and pleading for increased spirituality

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1. Bennett, Arthur. The Valley of Vision: a Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions. 2002 edition. Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1975.

From The Valley of Vision.

Available at Trinity Book Service.