His prayer is famous in the annals of British history, “O Lord, Thou knowest how busy I must be this day. If I forget thee, do not forget me.” What is striking about the prayer is that this British general entered it in his diary on the eve before the famous Battle of Edgehill in 1642. (Edghill was the first major battle of the English Civil War).
Jacob Astley (1579-1652) became a soldier at eighteen and kept right on going as a career military man. He was a leader in the British Army during the Thirty Years War and its commander in other significant battles in Europe. Winston Churchill quoted from his prayer so often during the Second World War that it was falsely attributed to him. While most of the attention in the prayer is directed to the last two lines, it is primarily intended to seek God’s presence in the everyday events of our lives.
Help me to hear you speaking. Help me see you working. Give me a heart to perceive You. Give me insight into the true measure of things. God’s presence is active and available to us today. Lord, give us eyes to see and ears to hear: