None of us feels that we have achieved the prayer life that we want to have, or that we ought to have. Even the disciples instinctively knew that was true, as they were with Jesus day in and day out, hearing the way He prayed to His Father in heaven. That’s why they asked Him in Luke 11:1, “Lord, teach us to pray.” And then Jesus proceeded to give them the words to “The Lord’s Prayer,” which we ought to call “The Disciples’ Prayer,” since the actual Lord’s Prayer is what we have, recorded in John 17 as “Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer.”
Prayer is not only essential in the Christian life. It is also one of the greatest privileges afforded to us, that at any moment and in any place, we can instantly stand in the throne room of heaven and talk to the God of the universe, addressing Him in this intimate, but reverent language, as our heavenly Father, knowing that our presence and our petitions are not only accepted, but welcomed. One author has written that it is such an enormous privilege, and awesome honor … even frighteningly so … that when we enter a church worship service to come into God’s presence in prayer, we should not only be handed a hymnal, but even a seat belt and a crash helmet!
One of the sad things about prayer is that people so often think of it in a purely self-centered way, as if it is merely a psychological thing to use, almost like a lucky rabbit’s foot, to make us feel better. Or if not that, then it’s used as if it were a tool that we need to learn to use the right way in order to get what we ask for, like rubbing the Genie’s bottle the right way to get our three wishes granted. There certainly is a sense in which we need to learn to pray the right way, but not so as to get what we want. Prayer is partly legitimately for our benefit. Some have correctly said that prayer is the “breathing out” of Christian living, and Bible reading is the “breathing in.”
But prayer is also for God’s benefit, since He delights to have His adopted children come to Him to ask for His help and express their love for Him. It’s not just that we are permitted to come into His presence, a God who sternly frowns and in a condescending way reluctantly grants us permission to come. No, we find Him to be a loving Father whose smile glows as we come near His throne, and who steps down from His throne to wrap, as it were, His gentle arms around us, assuring us of His affection for us.
So how can our prayer life be improved? It’s not by cultivating eloquent words and lofty poetic imagery. One of the saddest things in a prayer meeting is to hear someone pray in such an artificial way that sounds like they are more interested in having people hear their prayer than that the Lord hear them. No, it’s by cultivating such a close relationship with our heavenly Father, that our prayers flow naturally from hearts that long for a closer walk with Him and a greater assurance of His saving favor.
That means that we should give careful thought to the sorts of things we should include in our prayers. And that’s where the prayer that Jesus taught the disciples should be such a helpful guide for us. Our prayer life should include prominent attention to His holiness (“hallowed be Thy name”) and embrace many of the glorious attributes that are His. Our prayer life should express a longing for His designs for the world to be perfected (“Thy will” and “Thy kingdom”), before we go on to pray for the many particular needs we have (“our daily bread”), spelling them out in our petitions. And our prayer life definitely needs to include acknowledgement of our sins and asking not only for forgiveness, but also for strength to resist the temptations from the world, the flesh, and the devil.
Having said that, we should go on to improve the dimensions of our prayer life by learning from the prayers of others. God has made that possible for us by giving us the collection of 150 Psalms to learn there how to pray. We can also benefit from the prayers of others in worship resources, the best of them (many think) being the collection of Puritan prayers in “The Valley of Vision.”
Every hymnal has a section of hymns about prayer, not to mention the fact that most hymns are actually prayers themselves, expressing eloquent requests and praise directed to the Lord, something that many folks fail to recognize. In the Reformation church in Geneva, Calvin considered the singing of the congregation as a form of prayer. So, the better we know the Psalms, the more we will learn how to pray.
James Montgomery (1771-1854) has given us a fine hymn about this in his 1823 composition, “Lord, Teach Us How to Pray Aright.” Montgomery was born in Scotland, the son of Moravian parents who died on a West Indies mission field while he was in boarding school. He inherited a strong religious bent, a passion for missions, and an independent mind. When a journey to London with the hope of finding a publisher for his youthful poems ended in failure, in 1792 he moved to Sheffield to join Mr. Gales, an auctioneer, bookseller, and printer of the “Sheffield Register” newspaper, as his assistant. In 1794 Gales left England to avoid a political prosecution. Montgomery took over the publication, changing its name to the “Sheffield Iris,” and continued to edit it for thirty-one years.
During the next two years he was imprisoned twice, first for reprinting therein a song in commemoration of “The Fall of the Bastille,” and the second for giving an account of a riot in Sheffield. That reflected unfavorably on a military commander. He also protested against slavery, the lot of boy chimney sweeps, and lotteries. In addition to the editing of his paper, the composition and publication of his poems and hymns, the delivery of lectures on poetry in Sheffield and at the Royal Institution, London, he was an earnest advocate of Foreign Missions and the Bible Society in many parts of the country, all giving great variety to the accomplishments of his life.
He published eleven volumes of poetry, mainly his own, and at least four hundred hymns, about one hundred of which are in common use today. Many judge his hymn texts to be equal in quality to those of Isaac Watts and Charles Wesley. Quite a few were published in Thomas Cotterill’s 1819 “Selection of Psalms and Hymns” and in Montgomery’s own “Songs of Zion” (1822), “Christian Psalmist” (1825), and “Original Hymns” (1853).In 1833 he received a Royal pension of £200 a year. He died in his sleep at the Mount, Sheffield, April 30, 1854, and was honored with a public funeral. A statue was erected to his memory in the Sheffield General Cemetery, and a stained glass window was installed in the Parish Church. A Wesleyan chapel and a public hall are also named in his honor.
All of us will want to see our prayer lives improve. And this should be something where we evaluate our progress not on the basis of standards that match our desires, but rather that match God’s standards. We want prayer to be not what we want it to be so much as what God wants it to be. And so, like Jesus’ disciples in Luke 11, we will want to learn better how to pray aright; not just to pray, but to pray aright! Singing this hymn will teach us much about “How to Pray Aright.”
Stanza 1 identifies the qualities of godly reverence and fear as essential attitudes for our prayer to be pleasing and acceptable to God. This is based on Hebrews 12:28 which speaks of approaching God’s throne “with reverence and awe.” The holiness of God should so affect us that we come into His presence with this kind of humility, sensing both His greatness and purity as well as our smallness and pollution. We are but “dust and ashes” in His sight. We think of Isaiah 6 in this regard, as the prophet was overwhelmed to be in the presence of “the holy One of Israel,” feeling like he was “undone,” that the molecules and atoms of his body were disintegrating. And at the same time we are taught in Hebrews 4 that we are to draw near this throne of grace to find help from a divine Father who welcomes us with a heart of love and a glorious Savior who welcomes us with outstretched, nail-scarred hands.
Lord, teach us how to pray aright with rev’rence and with fear.
Tho’ dust and ashes in Your sight, we may, we must draw near.
Stanza 2 identifies how essential prayer is for us. Our souls are spiritually living parts of our being. Just as our bodies grow weak without meals for nourishment to keep us physically alive and healthy, even so our souls grow weak without prayer for nourishment to keep us spiritually alive and healthy. It is true that “we perish if we cease from prayer.” And this is not because we need prayer to get those things we ask for. It’s prayer that keeps us in close, intimate fellowship with the Lord whom we love and who loves us. Because we are so prone to forget this, we are completely dependent on Him to “grant us power to pray.” Remembering this, we prepare for prayer, in part, by expecting Him to “meet us on our way.”
We perish if we cease from prayer; O, grant us pow’r to pray.
And when to meet You we prepare, Lord, meet us on our way.
Stanza 3 identifies the opposite but complementary attitudes of humility and confidence with which we come to our heavenly Father in prayer. The humility is not just from a sense of His holiness, but also, as we sing here, from a sense of our sinfulness and with the “godly sorrow” which should characterize our repentance. And the confidence is from a belief that He has promised to receive and bless us, and that He delights in our coming. When we come with this spirit, we have every right to expect that, within our soul, we will “hear Your voice and live,” the voice of the one who has called us to draw near.
Give deep humility; the sense of godly sorrow give;
a strong desire with confidence, to hear Your voice and live;
Stanza 4 identifies faith as an absolutely essential requirement for acceptable prayer. Psalm 66:18 warns us that “if I cherish iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.” And we read in Hebrews 11:6 that without faith, it is impossible to please God. This faith is more than a sentimental inclination to lean toward God. It is that conscious trusting in the merits of Jesus’ vicarious substitutionary death as having paid the price of our sin, accomplishing propitiation and redemption, and making our justification possible. It is “faith in the only sacrifice that can for sin atone,” Christ alone.
Faith in the only sacrifice that can for sin atone;
to cast our hopes, to fix our eyes on Christ, on Christ alone.
Stanza 5 identifies what we are determined to do, as God grants us strength for this spiritual discipline. “Thro’ Your Spirit and Your Son,” we “shall pray, and pray aright.” This must be our conclusion: not just to learn, but to pray!
Give these, and then Your will be done; thus strengthened with all might,
we, thro’ Your Spirit and Your Son, shall pray, and pray aright.
There have been a number of different tunes associated with the lyrics. Since it is in Common Meter (CM), there are many possibilities that would fit. One found in some American hymnals is RICHMOND. More often in British and Episcopalian / Anglican hymnals is ST HUGH. It was composed by Edward John Hopkins (1818-1901). Born at Westminster, England, the son of a clarinetist with the Royal Opera House orchestra, he became an organist (as did two of his brothers) and a composer. In 1826 he became a chorister of the Chapel Royal and sang at the coronation of King William IV in Westminster Abbey. He also sang in the choir of St. Paul’s Cathedral, a double schedule requiring skill and dexterity. On Sunday evenings he would play the outgoing voluntary at St. Martin’s in-the-Field. He left Chapel Royal in 1834 and started studying organ construction at two organ factories. He took an appointment at Mitcham Church as organist at age 16, winning an audition against other organists. Four years later he became organist at the Church of St. Peter, Islington. In 1841 he became organist at St. Luke’s, Berwick Street, Soho. Two Years later he was organist at Temple Church, which had a historic organ (built in 1683). He held this position for 55 years.
In 1845 he married Sarah Lovett, and they had four sons and five daughters. He was closely associated with the Bach Society and was organist for the first English performances of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion. In 1855 he collaborated with Edward Rimbault publishing “The Organ, its History and Construction” (3 editions, 1855-70-77). In 1864 he was one of the founders of the “College of Organists.” In 1882 he received an honorary Doctorate of Music from the Archbishop of Canterbury. He composed more than thirty hymn tunes and some psalm chants, used by the Church of England. He died in London, England.
Here is a link to the hymn with the ST HUGH tune.