Tuesday, March 04, 2008

THE VALLEY OF VISION
...a much needed prayer today of dependence and hope in the Lord

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 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,
and Thy glory in my valley.

14 comments:

Adjutorium said...

Hmmmmm.

The seven disc series of The Valley of Vision arrived in our mailbox today from several thousand miles away!

Powerful.

SJ Camp said...

I have that same series, I believe, narrated by my friend Max McLean. It is awesome! I would highly recommend it to all on this blog.

Max also has an Listners Bible in the ESV that is excellent too. What a great tool to fill your hearts and minds with the Word of God when travelling, running errands around town, taking a vacation with the family, or for home devotions. I have even heard of churches who use them as part of their Sunday worship services for their Scirpture readings.

Campi
Psalm 119:54

Unchained Slave said...

--simply, AMEN!

Pester Brat said...

Awesome, [praise the Lord.

Thanks Steve

Bret Lovitz of Grace Fellowship
www.gracefellowshipmh.org

Bhedr said...

Sledge,
Thanks for this piece. It is encouraging.

Thanks for the word on Max Mclean and..

Thanks for this statement from down below in another post:
>. No question Rome is delighted; but heaven weeps.<

This is a heavy burden to bear is it not? We are in the falling away though and it is so powerful that sometimes it catches me off gaurd.

Shawn said...

AMEN! Here's a quick stuff and then back to work.

I was delighted to hear My Sins My Sins My Savior as it reminded me of the Christian's life. Steve have you considered making this into a song.

This is why I love the puritans.

The life of a Christian is one of constant mourning over our sin and finding the greatest joy in Christ. My pastor when talks about suffering also talks about Joyous Grief. There are so many things like this in the Christian life.


Consider the scriptures :

1) Make a joyful noise
2) Love the Lord with all that we are
3) be of good cheer
4) convicted and mourning over our sin
5) Commanded o delight in him,
6) Hating our sin and hating evil
7) terrified of His holy wrath if we continue in sin without fleeing to Christ


... It's all over the Bible

Shawn said...

Steve,

I meant have you considered taking this puritan poem into a song

pilgrim said...

My pastor lent the book to me, some wonderful stuff.

It also shatters many of the stereotypes of the Puritans.

SJ Camp said...

I'm working on this as a song per your suggestion... thank you and to God be the glory!

Steve

John said...

Thanks for the reminder. I use the Valley of Vision almost weekly from the pulpit. What great thoughts of God!
I know Sovereign Grace ministries has put a lot of these to music, but Steve I would love to hear you do it.

Debbie said...

So rich! Thank you ...

Debbie

Wm Mallory said...

Valley of Vision is excellent...AAAA+ I Highly recommend it.

Here is a great link for more of these prayers by the puritians.

http://www.oldlandmarks.com/puritan.htm

If any of you can grab the book, it would be an excellent addition to your library.

This is a great post Steve and I look forward to see what you come up with for a song :)

Bill

Debbie said...

I remembered, after reading this post, that a about a year ago my husband had brought an assortment of old books home from the office, books that a colleague of his had left behind for whoever wanted them. Knowing how much I like old books, he knew I’d enjoy looking through them, but I had never gotten back to studying them carefully. Then today, I remembered that the title of one of those books was “The Valley of Vision”. I had no idea what treasure was buried in a cardboard box in my storage room! Makes me wonder what else might be in the stack …. :-) I’m so happy to have it to read through!

Detoured By Travel said...

Thanks Steve. This "hit the spot" for me today.

Thanks for your perseverence and discernment.