As a uni student struggling with the balance of work, life and study, stumbling across this prayer has been a huge blessing for me. Only a few months ago, I acquired a prayer book with recorded prayers from saints throughout history. From Polycarp to John Wesley, the book, although short, contains a richness of petitions which I think many young Protestant Christians like me don’t even consider when it comes to the subject of prayer.
Prayer is not merely an individual exercise; it is done alongside all the brothers and sisters of all places, throughout all ages, who have poured their hearts before God in earnest. Many of them shared very similar feelings and circumstances to mine; I can therefore read and appreciate their prayers, letting their words become mine and using them as a platform to launch into deeper and more personal prayer with my Father.
I have made this prayer mine. I’ve shared it with friends, and they have also found it immensely helpful. It reorients my desires around study and reminds me of who I am studying, working, and living for:
Oh Lord, fountain of all wisdom and learning, since out of your special goodness you have allowed me to receive an education in my youth that will help me to honest and holy living, please also grant through the enlightening of my mind (which otherwise labours in blindness) that I may be able to acquire knowledge. Strengthen my memory so that I may retain what I have learned. Govern my heart so that I may be willing and even eager to learn, so that I do not miss out on the opportunity you have provided because of my own laziness. May it please you for your Spirit to dwell in me, the Spirit of understanding, truth, judgement and prudence, for without your Spirit, my study will have no value and my entire education will be in vain.
In all of my study, regardless of the focus, help me understand its proper place and role in my life, namely, that it would allow me to know you in Christ Jesus, your Son. May everything that I learn assist me to observe the right rule of godliness. You have promised to bestow wisdom even on children and especially on those who are humble. You have promised to give the knowledge of yourself to those who are upright in heart. Yet you declare that you will humble the wicked and the proud so that they will fade away. Therefore, I beg of you that you would be pleased to turn me to true humility that I may be teachable and obedient first of all to you and then to those who are rightly in positions of authority over me.
Please get rid of all vicious desires from my heart and replace them with an earnest desire to seek you. Finally, let my only purpose be to qualify myself in this earthly life so that when I grow up I may serve you in whatever position you would assign for me. Amen.
What a prayer, right?
Often, (if you’re in the Reformed camp like me) I think we consider Calvin to be an incredibly intelligent, studious, genius theologian, far-removed from the every-day struggles of the mere ‘regular’ man. His prayer reminds me of just how human he was, too. I resonate with Calvin’s desires to study to please the Lord, to avoid pride in study, and be diligent and disciplined.
Calvin reminds me that it is the Lord’s providence “special goodness” that I am in a position to learn “receive an education”. Having a tertiary education is a privilege that I didn’t earn out of my own ability, rather the Lord’s direction in my life has allowed me to be at university, using my gifts and talents and knowledge to study for His glory. Calvin prays “grant… that I may be able to acquire knowledge”. He knows our minds would “labour on in vain” without the help of the Lord. We need His strength and guidance to learn and grow, and to use this for His name.
Calvin isn’t content to just ask God for direction and strength in his studies, as if it’s a mere prayer that one prays before going back to reality. He asks to be fully empowered and governed by the Spirit in all that he does, lest it be in vain. This recognises the depths of prayer and its connection to God’s sovereignty.
When we pray, we aren’t merely assenting to theological truths – we submit to our sovereign God and His will. Calvin makes a plea for his mind to submit to the reality of this truth.
It keeps my pride in check when I pray for the Spirit to govern and direct all aspects of my studies. It’s no longer up to me and my own ‘hard work’; if the Spirit wills, He will guide and lead, and I must constantly and actively submit to Him.
Yet, there is no sense of laziness in the prayer, despite the leaning on God’s sovereignty and strength. The prayer reminds me of Proverbs 16:9:
“The heart of man plans his way,
but the Lord establishes his steps.”
Recognising the importance of hard work and diligence, Calvin prays for willingness and eagerness for learning, and to not miss out on the opportunity provided to him. Hard work is not discarded simply because of our trust in the Holy Spirit to guide and empower us.
This is wisdom in ‘planning his way’ how to go about studying, yet there is clear dependence on God for ‘establishing his steps’. This same posture we can adopt too – a determination to work hard and diligently in our studies through the empowerment of the Spirit all the while relying on His guidance and governance.
The second half of Calvin’s prayer is his recognition of the supremacy of Christ and his own response to Christ, in light of daily study. The word humility jumps off the page at me and slaps me in the face. How often do I expect God to just give me wisdom and knowledge because I’ve prayed the ‘right’ prayer, or promise to work hard for Him? How often do I rejoice in a good mark I receive, or laugh off a poor mark in an attempt to save face? Who does this really point to as the receiver of glory in my studies?
Calvin’s beg to the sovereign Lord to turn him to humbleness should be mine every day. Pride gets in the way of everything, including my studies. How can I expect the Lord to bless my study and work if I’m not humble? He exalts the humble and crushes the proud. I’m reminded of yet another proverb:
“Toward the scorners he is scornful,
but to the humble he gives favor.”Proverbs 3:34
James 4:6 rams the point home:
“But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.””
Asking the Lord to remove all vicious desires from his heart and replace them with a desire for Him, Calvin closes with a request that I want to make my own, too. He asks for help to qualify himself for service for God’s kingdom in his adult life. This reminds me of the significance of my study. I’m not merely acquiring a degree, I am qualifying myself for work in God’s kingdom.
This is not to say that I’m not already a worker and missionary for the kingdom. I am for sure, and God has called me to be His light and witness wherever I am, including at university. But this is just a temporary stage of life.
Full time work will come, and I want to be best placed for working a job that makes full use of the talents that God has given me and the knowledge – which I will have providentially gained through study. Thus I will pray with Calvin for humility and strength to study well, in order to “qualify myself for whatever position you would assign me”.
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