an accompany-ing prayer
Sometimes in life we need to hold onto a prayer. Sometimes it accompanies us for a season, sometimes for a lifetime (I think the Jesus Prayer will accompany me for a lifetime).
This past weekend at Rebound I was given a gift by Fritz Dale, Executive Director of National Ministries for the Evangelical Free Church of America. Really unexpected - and what a wonderful gift! He presented me with a book of Puritan prayers entitled, The Valley of Vision (how did he know I collect books of written prayers?!). Well the introductory prayer looks like it will be one of those accompany-ing prayers - it captures my current state, thinking, hopes, and fears beautifully. It really is a bouquet of all the stuff in my current state presented in a prayer to God.
Here is that introductory prayer written by the editor of the rest of the prayer manual, Arthur Bennett:
LORD, high and holy, meek and lowly,
Thou hast brought me to the valley of vision,
Where I live in the depths but see thee in the heights;
Hemmed in by mountains of sin I behold thy glory.
Let me learn by paradox
that the way down is the way up,
that the way to be low is to be high,
that the broken heart is the healed heart,
that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit,
that the repenting soul is the victorious soul,
that to have nothing is to possess all,
that to bear the cross is to wear the crown,
that to give is to receive,
that the valley is the place of vision.
Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen from deepest wells,
and the deeper the wells the brighter thy stars shine;
Let me find thy light in my darkness,
thy life in my death,
thy joy in my sorrow,
thy grace in my sin,
thy riches in my poverty,
thy glory in my valley.
AMEN.
Hi Doug,
I first picked up a copy of the Valley of Vision about twenty years ago when I was a student at Fuller Seminary. It is a wonderful book of prayers, and I trust you will enjoy using it in your times with God.
Beautiful words. I ran into your blog by “accident” and loved the words you’ve written here. I added it to my Feeds. Keep it up!
Dario