No. 123 of 124 · A Name of God · The Long Healing Prayer
The God of Grace to the wicked
Even those who feel farthest from the light are held within the compass of a grace that no human measure can contain.
I call on Thee O Thou Who slayest the Lovers, O God of Grace to the wicked! Bahá'u'lláh, The Long Healing Prayer · read the full prayer
What “The God of Grace to the wicked” means
What follows reflects on this name of God, offered for your own contemplation, and not as an authoritative interpretation of the Bahá'í Writings, which rests with ‘Abdu'l-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi alone.
There is something quietly astonishing about this name. To call God 'the God of Grace to the wicked' is to say that divine mercy does not operate the way human mercy often does, parceled out to the deserving, withheld from the rest. It points instead to a generosity that flows prior to any accounting, a grace that does not wait for worthiness before it begins to move. The very act of naming God this way within a prayer is itself a kind of theological statement: even at our lowest, even in our worst moments, we are addressing a God who has already chosen to be gracious toward us.
The word 'wicked' here need not be read as a label for other people. In the interior life of prayer, it tends to land closer to home. Most people who sit with this name recognize in themselves some area of failure, some pattern of selfishness or harm, some distance between who they are and who they sense they ought to be. That honest recognition, rather than being a barrier to approaching God, turns out to be the very doorway. A grace that extends to the wicked is a grace that can reach anyone, which is to say, it is a grace that can reach you, right now, exactly as you are.
This name also quietly connects outward-facing healing with inward transformation. Wickedness in the spiritual sense has often been understood not simply as dramatic wrongdoing but as a kind of inner entanglement, with self-will, with attachment, with the habits that keep us closed. Grace, then, is not merely pardon from the outside; it is a force that can loosen those interior knots. To call on God by this name is to invite that loosening, to acknowledge that what we cannot untangle in ourselves may still be reached by a mercy that works from within.
Calling on The God of Grace to the wicked for healing
When someone carries illness alongside guilt, or when the weight of past choices seems woven into present suffering, this name of God offers a particular kind of shelter. It gently removes the idea that one must first become worthy before being permitted to ask. You are not required to have lived well enough to bring your need before God. The name itself, placed in the prayer by Bahá'u'lláh, is an open door. Those who feel their own moral complexity most acutely may find that calling on the God of Grace to the wicked dissolves a subtle inner resistance to receiving help at all.
It is worth saying plainly: holding this name in prayer is a spiritual practice, and spiritual practice works alongside, not instead of, the care of competent physicians, counselors, and other healers. If you or someone you love is dealing with illness, please do seek qualified medical attention. What prayer can do, and what this name in particular may do, is tend to the interior dimension of suffering, the shame, the self-judgment, the sense of abandonment, in ways that medicine alone does not address. In that interior space, the God of Grace to the wicked can be a profound companion.
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Living the Word
Applying The God of Grace to the wicked in your life
A name of God is a virtue to grow into. Where is The God of Grace to the wicked being asked of you right now, and how will you practice it? Keep a short note each time you return, and watch your own path with this name take shape over time. It stays on this device.
In the Bahá'í Writings
“9 When the holy breaths of Christ and the sanctified lights of the Most Great Luminary were spread abroad, human realities—that is, those souls who turned towards the Word of God and partook of His manifold grace—were saved from this attachment and sin, were granted eternal life, were delivered from the chains of bondage, and entered the realm of freedom. They were purged of earthly vices and endowed with heavenly virtues. This is the meaning of Christ’s words that I gave My blood for the life of the world. That is, I chose to bear all these trials, afflictions, and calamities, even the most great martyrdom, to attain this ultimate objective and to ensure the remission of sins—that is, the detachment of spirits from the material world and their attraction to the divine realm—that souls may arise who will be the very essence of guidance and the manifestations of the perfections of the Kingdom on high.”
Read in full at bahai.org →“11.1That Assembly resteth in the sheltering shade of the Lord of all bounties, and it is my hope that, as beseemeth that body, it will be favoured and invigorated by the breathings of the Holy Spirit, and that day by day ye will love God in ever greater measure, and become more tightly bound to the Beauty that abideth forever, to Him Who is the Light of the world. For love of God and spiritual attraction do cleanse and purify the human heart and dress and adorn it with the spotless garment of holiness; and once the heart is entirely attached to the Lord, and bound over to the Blessed Perfection, then will the grace of God be revealed. 11.2This love is not of the body but completely of the soul. And those souls whose inner being is lit by the love of God are even as spreading rays of light, and they shine out like stars of holiness in a pure and crystalline sky. For true love, real love, is the love for God, and this is sanctified beyond the notions and imaginings of men.”
Read in full at bahai.org →“My God, Whom I worship and adore! I bear witness unto Thy unity and Thy oneness, and acknowledge Thy gifts, both in the past and in the present. Thou art the All-Bountiful, the overflowing showers of Whose mercy have rained down upon high and low alike, and the splendors of Whose grace have been shed over both the obedient and the rebellious. O God of mercy, before Whose door the quintessence of mercy hath bowed down, and round the sanctuary of Whose Cause loving-kindness, in its inmost spirit, hath circled, we beseech Thee, entreating Thine ancient grace, and seeking Thy present favor, that Thou mayest have mercy upon all who are the manifestations of the world of being, and to deny them not the outpourings of Thy grace in Thy days. All are but poor and needy, and Thou, verily, art the All-Possessing, the All-Subduing, the All-Powerful.”
Read in full at bahai.org →Questions about The God of Grace to the wicked
- Does 'the wicked' in this name refer to evil people, or does it have a broader meaning?
- In the context of devotional prayer, 'the wicked' is best understood broadly rather than as a category reserved for the especially villainous. It encompasses anyone who has strayed, fallen short, or accumulated the kind of spiritual weight that makes them feel undeserving of God's attention. Many people who pray this line find it speaks directly to their own sense of inadequacy, which is precisely what makes it so powerful.
- How can God showing grace to the wicked be reconciled with justice?
- This is one of the oldest questions in theology, and different traditions approach it differently. Within the Bahá'í perspective, divine attributes like mercy and justice are understood to be perfectly balanced in God, even when their relationship exceeds our ability to fully comprehend it. The emphasis in this name is not that wrongdoing has no consequence, but that no condition of the soul permanently places it beyond the reach of God's mercy.
- Can reciting this prayer heal a serious illness?
- The Long Healing Prayer is a devotional practice that many Bahá'ís turn to in times of physical, emotional, and spiritual need, trusting the outcome to God's wisdom. No specific result can be guaranteed, and it would be a mistake to treat prayer as a substitute for medical care. For any serious illness, please consult qualified healthcare professionals alongside whatever spiritual practices bring you comfort and strength.
- Why does Bahá'u'lláh include this name alongside 'Thou Who slayest the Lovers'?
- The pairing is striking and intentional. The one who 'slays the lovers' evokes the consuming, transforming power of divine love, a love so total it dissolves the ego. Immediately beside it stands the God of Grace to the wicked, as if to say that this same overwhelming love reaches even those who have not yet become lovers at all. It is a breathtaking range, from the most ardent devotee to the most estranged soul, both held within the same divine address.
Listen to, recite, and reflect on the whole prayer, its more than one hundred names of God.
Hear the Long Healing Prayer