More about the Valley of Vision

Yesterday, I mentioned a book called The Valley of Vision, and quoted from it. This is book of prayers that I found out about from a godly older man named Terry Gyger. Terry helped found Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City with Tim Keller. Terry was helping teach a class called "A Quiet Time in a Noisy City" in May of 2008 and I had the chance to sit in. He told us how much he had been helped by The Valley of Vision because it models how to pray in a gospel-centered way: honest, repentant, and joyful for the cross of Jesus. The Valley of Vision has been a great help to me, not because I read prayers instead of talking to God personally, but because it helps me express myself to God in way that is rooted in grace and awes me before His greatness. The book is edited by Arthur Bennett and is available on Amazon. Here is another sample, called "The Awakened Sinner" (p. 36)

O MY FORGETFUL SOUL,
Awake from your wandering dream,
turn from chasing vanities,
look inward, forward, upward,
view yourself,
reflect upon yourself,
who and what you are, why here
what you must soon be.
O GOD,
When I think of your greatness and your goodness,
I am ashamed at my insensibility,
I blush to lift up my face,
For I have foolishly erred.

I confess that you have not been in my thoughts,
that the knowledge of yourself as the purpose of my being
has been strangely overlooked.

Break the fatal enchantment that binds my evil affections,
and bring me to a happy mind that rests in you.
Let your spirit teach me the vital lessons of Christ,
for I am slow to learn;
Hear my broken cries.