A musar (supplementary) prayer for our times…

Just sharing a beautiful prayer from Professor Rabbi Brian Tice, Messianic Jewish Rabbinate.  It is a musar (supplementary) prayer for our times, distributed by Temple Emanuel in Grand Rapids, Michigan:

We cannot merely pray to You, O G-d, to end war: for we know that You have made the world in a way so that all of us must find our own path to peace, within ourselves and with our neighbors.

We cannot merely pray to You, O G-d, to end starvation; for You have already given us the resources with which to feed the entire world, if we would only use them wisely.

We cannot merely pray to You, O G-d, to root out our prejudice; for You have already given us eyes with which to see the good in all people, if we would only use them rightly.

We cannot merely pray to You, O G-d, to end despair; for you have already given us the power to clear away slums and to give hope, if only we would use our power justly.

We cannot merely pray to You, O G-d, to end disease; for you have already given us great minds with which to search our cures and healing, if we could only use them constructively.

Therefore, we pray to You instead, O G-d, for strength, determination, and courage, to do instead of just pray, to become instead of merely to wish.

Praised are You, O G-d, You bless our people Israel, and all peoples with peace.

Please feel free to share this prayer, as it is exactly the type of message ADONAI has been trying to teach mankind since the very beginning. He gave us the intellect, wisdom and the tools to accomplish “set apart” living according to His Torah!

He even warned us about the blessings for obedience, and the curses for disobedience! (See Deuteronomy 27 and 28.) How much clearer could He have been? Yet, mankind has always managed to disappoint Him because we have continued to “put Him in a box” and make up our own rules, while viewing ourselves as “holy”.