Love Divine, All Loves Excelling

Love Divine, All Loves Excelling

Have you ever prayed a prayer that included these words? “Please, God!”

We have all been there, asking God for something. When we pray prayers that ask God to supply our needs, we are praying prayers of supplication. That’s just a fancy way of saying that we are asking God for something.

God is our Provider and everything that we have is from Him. He cares for us and He gives to us. When we pray prayers of supplication, it’s good for us to remember exactly who God is and what He is like.

There is an old hymn called “Love Divine” that teaches us all about this kind of prayer. Love Divine calls upon our God for His good gifts, but it starts in a way that every prayer of request should. It begins by praising God and acknowledging Him for who He is and what He does. God is a God of love and joy. He excels at those things.

Love Divine is a list of all the things every heart should desire. What is missing from that list is any request that is self-serving or material in nature. The heart of this hymn sets God in His high place before making any request at all. What follows is a list of requests that simply ask for more of God Himself. The hymn is teaching us the proper way to ask God for something.

Try this: the next time you come before God, to place a request before Him, listen to this hymn and read Psalms 51. All prayer should be wrapped in scripture and this hymn fits like a glove into that Psalm. Read the scripture, sing this song and then place your requests before God. You will find that your heart is incredibly in tune with the will of God and your prayer of supplication will be a prayer from the depth of a heart that is seeking to please God, not man.

Psalms 51:10

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”

(Lyrics are posted below in comments)