Morning Prayer: Lord, Make Haste to Help Me
From Morning Prayer: O Lord, make haste to help me. “O God, come to my assistance; O Lord, make haste to help me.” The Liturgy of the Hours begins with this plea every single time — Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, Night Prayer. The Church teaches us to start not with competence, but with need. And yet, anyone who has lived even a little knows: God does not always make haste. Tolstoy captured this with his quiet, devastating line: “God sees the truth, but waits.” ( Bog pravdu vidit, no ne srazu skazhet. ) We know this in our bones. We pray urgently, and heaven seems to move at a glacial pace. We ask for clarity, and receive silence. We beg for healing, and time stretches out like an unanswered question. So why keep saying it? Why keep asking God to hurry when God rarely seems to? 1. Because the prayer is about our posture, not God’s speed The ancient monks said this verse was the perfect summary of the spiritual life: I need help. I cannot save myself. I turn toward the One who...