Be Thou Exalted

“O God be Thou exalted over my possessions. Nothing of earth’s treasures shall seem dear unto me if only Thou art glorified in my life. Be Thou exalted over my friendships. I am determined that Thou shalt be above all, though I must stand deserted and alone in the midst of the earth. Be Thou exalted above my comforts. Though it mean the loss of bodily comforts and the carrying of heavy crosses, I shall keep my vow made this day before Thee. Be Thou exalted over my reputation. Make me ambitious to please Thee even if as a result I must sink into obscurity and my name be forgotten as a dream. Rise, O Lord, into Thy proper place of honor, above my ambitions, above my likes and dislikes, above my family, my health and even my life itself. Let me sink that Thou mayest rise above. Ride forth upon me as Thou didst ride into Jerusalem mounted upon the humble little breast, a colt, the foal of an ass, and let me hear the children cry to Thee, “Hosanna in the highest.” Amen.”

Be Thou exalted above my circumstances, Lord. Let me fix my eye upon You and exchange my heavy burden for Your sweet yoke. I desire to view everything in my life through Your perspective, only I can’t do this by my own strength. I feel so tired and weak and useless and broken, and no one but You can restore me and make me feel whole again.

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This is a sweet prayer, it puts into words the prayer of my heart:

“Lord, I would trust Thee completely; I would be altogether Thine; I would exalt Thee above all. I desire that I may feel no sense of possessing anything outside of Thee. I want constantly to be aware of Thy overshadowing presence and to hear Thy speaking voice. I long to live in restful sincerity of heart. I want to live so fully in the Spirit that all my thoughts may be as sweet incense ascending to Thee and every act of my life may be an act of worship. Therefore I pray in the words of Thy great servant of old, “I beseech Thee so for to cleanse the intent of my heart with the unspeakable gift of Thy grace, that I may perfectly love Thee and worthily praise Thee”. And all this I confidently believe Thou wilt grant me through the merits of Jesus Christ Thy Son. Amen.”

- Tozer

I want to delve into the works of the ancient saints. The words that they wrote to God and for God are so beautiful and pure and filled with passion that reading them makes my heart burst. I feel like I can learn so much from them.

I was thinking again about some of the ancient literature [i.e. Chaucer] and I thought how perfectly beautiful and amazing and admirable it is that even in the midst of their frivolous love stories/songs/lyrics, they never forget to devote some space to the exaltation of God. They never forget to put their love for God even above their love for their lovers.

And even though I still don’t understand much of it, I am beginning to think that Song of Songs is a magnificent book. I want to have God ravish my heart and love Him as perfectly as I can. And I really do hope that I’ll learn to love God more through the poetry class I’ll be taking next semester.