Wherever we are and whatever we may face

In the book of Deuteronomy 33:27 we find what is surely one of the most memorable lines of Scripture: ‘The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms’ (RSV). I included that verse at just about every funeral service I conducted, for it communicates in a way few other passages can even begin to the assurance of God’s love supporting us in life and in death, never letting us go. We find the same expressed, and with equal beauty, in our prayer today, adapted from the blessing of a sick person and taken here from my book A Calendar of Classic Prayer. It asks God to be present in every moment of life, wherever we are and whatever we may face. It’s not that the writer doubts this will be so; simply that she or he needs reminding of that wonderful truth. Why not remind yourself in turn?

Lord Jesus Christ,
be thou beside me, to defend me;
be thou within me, to keep me;
be thou before me, to lead me;
be thou behind me, to guard me;
be thou above me, to bless me;
that with thee and in thee I may live
and have my being,
for ever and ever.
Amen.