The Valley of Vision came up in conversation this morning, and I thought I would pass it on. If you like the way the Puritans prayed, this one is for you.
Warning: In reading this book, you may find your own prayers to be feeble and self-centered by contrast.
I have been reading the VOV for a while now and everytime I read and meditate on the prayers I come away with 2 thoughts yea 3….
1 My prayers ARE wimpy in comparison
2 Which makes me realize my spiritual
life IS wimpy in comparison
3. My command of the English language
is CERTAINLY wimpy in comparison
Eric,
I too have this book and really like it. As you say, it often reveals my prayers to be shallow, self-serving and incorrectly focused. The Puritan regard for the holiness and sovereignty of God (which comes through loud and clear in this book) is foreign to 21st century American Christianity, sadly. We would do well to recover the attitude towards God revealed in these prayers.
Justin Taylor blogged on the Valley of Vision in May, including the text of the opening prayer.
One of the many striking features of these prayers is that they were not written for publication. They were just entries in these men’s journals, and they wrote them down as a discipline to aid in personal devotion.
It’s interesting to contrast the reverence these men show in their private devotion to the casual, conversational approach that is considered more spiritual today. There is probably some merit in each, but I suspect that we have made God a little too “approachable” and our prayer life a bit too haphazard.
I’m not saying that every believer should be writing out prayers in poetic, King James English, but shouldn’t I put at least as much thought into a prayer that I present to Almighty God as I do into a blog post? Is I concentrate to find just the right words here, I find myself convicted that perhaps I have more reverent fear of the judgment of men than I do of our great God.
Great point. I think that thoughtful prayer is something that is becoming less seen in both corporate and private worship.
It seems that are prayers become more worshipful as we become saturated with the Biblical language that God uses to describe himself. Our grasp of the overall message of the scriptures, seems to contribute to godly prayers. Lack of reverence is definitely a factor and so is biblical illiteracy.
I have this book and refer to it often. My favorite is one called “The Deeps”.
This is a great gift book.