Denny’s Prayer for Us

Today my sweet Jill and I celebrate our tenth anniversary. These have undoubtedly been the best ten years of my life. Folded up in my wallet, I carry around with me the little piece of paper on which my dear friend Denny Burk had written out the prayer he prayed for us during our wedding. I have received favor from the Lord, I have found what is good (Prov 18:22), and I feel so deeply the words that were bouncing around in my brain all through our wedding ceremony:

“The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; Indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me” (Psalm 16:6).

Thinking on my sweet wife makes me want to weep with joy, to praise God for his mercy, to go to her and recite every poem I’ve ever known . . . and none of it would be enough.

I don’t deserve my wife, and I don’t deserve to have a friend like Denny. His prayer brought tears to my eyes on July 25, 1998, and it does the same to this day. Here it is, and may God continue to answer all his petitions:

“Not to us, O Lord, not to us, But to Thy name give glory Because of Thy lovingkindness, because of Thy truth” (Psalm 115:1).

Lord, may Jim and Jill, above all else, earnestly desire to see Your name, Your glory, and Your renown made great in all the earth. May they honor You for who You are in all of life. Capture their hearts by Your grace so that they might persevere in faith and love for Your sake. And make their union a picture of Christ’s love for His bride.

Lord Jesus, grant Jim grace that he might follow hard after You for all of his life. Make him a godly man who treasures You above all else. Make him a graceful and worthy head for his wife in this marriage. Stir up in Jim a perpetual love and affection for Jill that he might love her with the same extravagancy with which You love your church. May he love self-sacrificially all of his life. Help him to listen to Jill with great sensitivity and seriousness. And when the euphoria of the honeymoon wears off, and the mundane sets in, make his heart swell all the more with great love for his bride. May he love and honor you by the way that he faithfully loves and honors Jill all of his life.

Lord Jesus, likewise grant Jill the grace that she might follow hard after You all of her life. Make her a godly woman who treasures You above all else. In loving submission, may she faithfully and singlemindedly honor Jim for Your glory. May she show her love and devotion to You by the way that she loves Jim.

Lord, give Jim and Jill hearts that long for Your appearing.

“Whom have we in heaven but You? And besides You, we desire nothing on earth. Our flesh and our hearts may fail, But God is the strength of our hearts and our portion forever” (Psalm 73:25, 26).

God, so bless this union for Your glory. Amen.