Published 10 Sep 2015
A Scholar’s Prayer
Carmen Imes offers a prayer to consider before embarking on a day of scholarship and work.
By Carmen Joy ImesA blog post Women Scholars and Professionals
A Scholar's Prayer
Lord, as a new day dawns,I offer thanks for the privilege of learning —For the time, the mental acuity, and the resources at my disposal.Thank you for the delight of discovery.These are precious gifts.
Quicken my mindthat I may discern what is rightand understand more fully the complexities of the subjectthat is before me today.
As I interact with others — in person or in print —help me to appreciate their strengthsand see clearly where they have erred.As I ponder the voices of the academy,let me never mistake eloquence for accuracyOr monotony for irrelevance.Let my disagreements be marked by charityand my approval never fueled by flattery or posturing.
Give me sober judgment,sound reasoning,and clarity of expression.Let me love the truthmore than I love what I have thought or said or written.Grant me the courage to confront falsehood, even in myself,to defend an unpopular position,or to surrender a cherished opinion found wanting.
Grant me diligence to stay on taskand ignore distraction.At the end of this day may I be able to stand before youunashamed of the work I have done and left undone.
Above all, may my work bring you glory.May it inspire others to worshipthe God who is the source of all goodnessand beautyand perfection.
For the glory of your Name,
Amen
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Carmen Joy Imes (PhD, Wheaton) is associate professor of Old Testament in the Talbot School of Theology at Biola University. A graduate of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, she is the author of Bearing YHWH's Name at Sinai, Bearing God's Name: Why Sinai Still Matters, Being God's Image: Why Creation Still Matters, and the editor of Praying the Psalms with Augustine and Friends.Imes has written for a variety of websites, including Christianity Today, The Well, and the Politics of Scripture blog. She is a fellow of Every Voice, a member of the Evangelical Theological Society, the Institute for Biblical Research, and the Society of Biblical Literature. Imes and her husband, Daniel, have followed God's call around the globe together for over 25 years.Read Carmen's article on being God's image as a woman in the academy and the church.