Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.

  - Psalm 124.8

O God of the earth, O God of fire, O God of the excellent waters, O God of the tempestuous and rushing air, O God of the many languages round the circuit of the earth, O God of the waves from the bottomless house of the ocean, O God of the constellations, and all the bright stars, O God who didst fashion the mass, and didst inaugurate day and night, O God who dost rule over hell and its rabble host, O God, who doest govern with archangels, O golden good, O heavenly Father who art in heaven, have mercy upon us.

  - Anonymous, Litany of the Trinity (Irish 14th or 15th century)

These litanies were developed well beyond the period of the Celtic Revival, but in many ways they capture essential features of that period. They were composed as personal devotional guides, used to shore up and express the faith of monks serving God in the monasteries of Ireland. Through them we can glimpse the deep personal faith of some of these great saints of old.

Note the extravagant ways God is described, the emphasis on His sovereignty and yet the acknowledgement that He is Father. The might of God and the mercy of God are not separated in the mind of this liturgist. He invokes God in all His greatness, majesty, sovereignty, and power; and he knows Him as the Father of mercies.

What a comfort it is to know that God Who rules all things is inclined toward us as children, in mercy! What if God had not adopted us? What if He left us to our rebellious ways, to fall under His judgment and wrath? What if in His almighty power God had not condescended to come among us in Jesus, and to accomplish that sovereign work of redemption by which mercy flows to the world?

We would be hopelessly lost and undone. We would be without hope. But now the almighty and all-sovereign God has been disposed toward us in mercy, and we live in the freedom of His grace and power, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us daily give Him thanks and praise.

Never take for granted the scope and power of God's sovereign might. Never neglect to seek His mercy, that His power toward you may always be unto forgiveness and renewal. And never fail to explain His might and proclaim His mercy to the people God has sent you to in your Personal Mission Field.

He is everywhere sovereign and everywhere merciful.

Let us be everywhere grateful to our God.

T. M. Moore, Principal

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Personal Mission Field - God's unique and personal calling for your life - is another concept we learn to take up in the course, PT 1 Spiritual Maturity 1: Revival. The course includes readings from Jonathan Edwards, St. Patrick, Martin Luther, and more, and it's all free. You simply need to enroll.