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"The Valley of Vision" From Steve Camp's Blog

The Valley of Vision
...a prayer of dependence, joy, contrition and hope


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.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Why do folk like these prayers? They are really quite bad in the theology of regeneration and the Christian life. The prayers express a 17thC psychology which over-stresses depravity, but understates the nature of the Christian life, and they were written in times of extreme which is not necessary normal for other times.

DavidP
Thu Sep 22, 10:54:00 AM CDT
Pester Brat said…
Thanks for your response David. You of course are entitled to your opinion on that. And I'm sure there may be some others that would agree with you. I think it depends on the Christian. It makes me think of what Christ said about the appreciation (my paraphrase) of Christians being based on how much sin they had forgiven. However I also believe that as a Christian continues to grow, they gradually realize how sinful they were and are apart from Christ in light of how holy, righteous and good God is. I don't think it is just a question of proper theology in regeneration, but realizing that anything we do in Christ is only becaise of His righteousness imputed to us, and the Holy Spirit that works in us. Certainly all people are totally depraved, not many are not utterly depraved. Depravity manifests itself in different ways which once regenerated unto salvation will show forth unto praise and appreciate of out great God and Savior.

By the way, do you mind sharing a little about yourself and your Christian background? Thanks again!
Thu Sep 22, 03:31:00 PM CDT
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