Valley of Vision

I have many different collections  of prayers. From modern writers to prayers from the early church fathers. One of my favorite collections of prayers hails from the Puritan tribe and is called “Valley of Vision: A collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions”

The Puritan movement was a wave of influence in the sixteenth and seventeenth century right up to the time of Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892) who might be regarded as the last of the great Puritan preachers.

The heartbeat of Puritan spirituality was a deep devotion to the practice of prayer. The prayers in the book, “The Valley of Vision” are taken from many of the greats like Spurgeon, William Law, Richard Baxter, Augustus Toplady, John Bunyan ands Isaac Watts to name a few. This prayer is the opening prayer to the book…Take a moment, remove your distractions, ask the Holy Spirit to speak and reflectively read the prayer.

Enjoy!

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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 up,
that 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 the deepest wells,
and the deeper the wells the brighter the 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.