The Valley of Vision
Another semester has started at Multnomah, and Kari and I are stoked to be able to do this Spring term together. We share two courses on our schedules, one on Conflict Transformation, meeting at the end of the day on Mondays. The other one is Prayer, first thing Monday morning. We already sensed in the days leading up to classes that there had been a marked difference in our prayer life, a deeper love for God and sense of His listening to our prayers. I do not chiefly prayer because I am duty-bound (you must pray!), but more so because my heart and mind is in love with God. We could call this affections-oriented religion, which really is not ‘religion’ in the sense we might all use it. It is not my external, outward duty to pray or go to church or do good works, or love the poor and need. Those activities must arise out of an inward transformation that God has done. God works on my affections, my desires and motives, and leads me along the path of His good pleasure. God changes His people form the inside-out. “Religion” as we most all use it, cannot do that. Only the good news of Jesus, the Gospel of God’s grace can do that. And I never outgrow my need for the Gospel.
One aspect of our Prayer class is to choose a specific amount of time one shall pray each week, as a goal. And then creatively set up exercises (which can be altered as we proceed) for deliberate and purposefully participation with God the Father, Son and Spirit in prayer. I get to enjoy Them!
One small goal I would like to have is to each day spend a bit of time reading and praying through the Valley of Vision. It is a collection of Puritan prayers and devotions organized around themes. Each has the tone submission and humility and gratitude, truths my heart longs for!
The opening prayer poem is aptly titled, “The Valley of Vision.” Here is what I prayed this morning after Kari and I enjoyed praying over the various needs around us and desires in our minds.
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 thee 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 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.
Of course, we cannot literally see the best from a valley floor, but rather from a mountain top. But we cannot see God as clearly, nor draw near to Him, if all is well and He is far from our minds. He resists the proud but gives grace to the humble (1 Peter 5:5; James 4:6). Our needs and issues of life ought to bring us to humble dependence and to show us that His (Thy) care is the best and most needful. I want to learn by the sort of paradoxes described above, those that the Triune God is right in there in the center with me. They are seemingly incompatible but proven by daily experience by thousands that the way up truly is truly attained by dropping down on our knees, and to have a broken heart is to have a healed one. I have seen men stand most tall when they pour out their souls to God and repent of their prideful ways. Truly, the repenting soul, admitting weakness and defeat, is the victorious soul. The valley is the place of vision.
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