Ours tends to go something like this:

Dear Lord God,
You are an awesome and mighty God, creator of the sun/rain/clouds/snow (whatever the weather of the day was).
We thank you and bless you for the time to work and play and learn today.
We ask your blessing on the time remaining today and on our sleep tonight.
We look forward to serving you tomorrow!
In the name of your son, Jesus Christ,
Amen.

Which is followed by our oldest son:

Please bless this food and the water/milk/juice (whatever we’re drinking),
and the hands that made it.
Amen!

Lux aeterna luceat eis Domine
cum sanctis tuis in aeternum:
quia pius es.

Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine;
et lux perpetua luceat eis.

Rest in peace, Pam, rest in peace…

A ship was wrecked during a storm at sea and only two of the men on it were able to swim to a small, desert-like island.

The two survivors, not knowing what else to do, agreed that they had no other recourse but to pray to God. However, to find out whose prayer was more powerful, they agreed to divide the territory between them and stay on opposite sides of the island. The first thing they prayed for was food. The next morning, the first man saw a fruit-bearing tree on his side of the land, and he was able to eat its fruit. The other man’s parcel of land remained barren.

After a week, the first man was lonely and he decided to pray for a wife. The next day, another ship wrecked nearby, and the only survivor was a woman who swam to his side of the island. On the other side of the island, there was nothing.

Eventually the first man decided to pray for clothes and more food. The next day, all of these were given to him as the belongings from yet another shipwreck were washed ashore. However, the second man still had nothing.

Finally, the first man prayed for a ship, so that he and his wife could leave the island. In the morning, he found that overnight a ship had anchored on his side of the island.

The first man was welcomed aboard the ship along with his wife and he decided to say nothing of the other man, but instead leave him on the island. He considered the other man unworthy to receive God’s blessings since obviously none of his prayers had been answered…

As the ship was about to leave, the first man heard a Voice booming, “Why are you leaving your companion on the island?”

“My blessings are mine alone, since I was the one who prayed for them,” the first man answered. “His prayers were all unanswered and so he does not deserve anything.”

“You are gravely mistaken!” the Voice rebuked him. “He had only one prayer, and I answered it. If it were not for his prayers, you would not have received any of MY blessings.”

“Tell me,” the first man asked, “what did he pray for that I should owe him anything?”

“He prayed that all your prayers would be answered.”

Note: I originally began writing this post after Brian’s first post on the topic, but since then, he’s followed up with another and Peter Kirk has added his rebuttal thoughts as well. The rest of this entry tries to reflect some of the discussion in these additional posts.

On a personal level, my family is experiencing physical ailment again. My wife has been diagnosed with a form of vertigo, which (rationally) explains a great many things that she’s experienced over the past few years, but has been quite disabling for the past week or so (also explaining my spotty participation in blogdom). We give thanks to God that she did not black out when she had a severe episode while driving on the freeway last week and was able to get safely off before calling an ambulance.

In his second post, Brian presented Paul Heibert’s three-tier model of rational/physical explanation, the presence of spiritual beings and divine sovereignty. From Brian’s perspective, the cause of any event would be rooted in one of these tiers, e.g. my wife’s vertigo could be explained as an inner ear disorder (physical), an attack by demonic forces (spiritual) or the pruning discipline of God (divine).

It is difficult to know whether our family is being pruned or goaded. We are over committed and busy, with barely a minute or two to breath in relationship with each other. Is God stepping in and using physical ailment to force us to cut back and restore ourselves to each other and Him? Is the enemy driving us on and on and on to the point of breakdown, cutting our roots and placing our lives on shifting sand? Or is this just the natural affect of my wife’s seasonal allergies on her body as she grows older?

Peter’s critique is that we shouldn’t look to just one of the tiers for an explanation, but to all three, such that my wife’s ailment is the result of a physical disorder that has a spiritual warfare equivalent, but that may have been orchestrated by God with an overall good purpose in mind.

Evidently Andrewes (1555-1626) was one of the translators of the KJV. In the endnotes, Best recommends a 1961 edition of the prayer book translated by F.E. Brightman that also contains an essay by T.S. Eliot. Amazon also lists editions translated by Alexander Whyte, David Scott and John Henry Newman, among others.

Is anyone familiar with this book of prayers, and is there any qualitative difference between translators that would justify the quantitative difference between $50 (Brightman) and $5 (Whyte)?

First the prayer, then the song:

The Valley of Vision
Edited by Arthur G. Bennett
© 1975 The Banner of Truth Trust

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,
thy glory in my valley.

Valley of Vision
Words and music by Bob Kauflin
© 2006 Sovereign Grace Praise (BMI).

When You lead me to the valley of vision
I can see You in the heights
And though my humbling wouldn’t be my decision
It’s here Your glory shines so bright
So let me learn that the cross precedes the crown
To be low is to be high
That the valley’s where You make me more like Christ

Let me find Your grace in the valley
Let me find Your life in my death
Let me find Your joy in my sorrow
Your wealth in my need
That You’re near with every breath
In the valley

In the daytime there are stars in the heavens
But they only shine at night
And the deeper that I go into darkness
The more I see their radiant light
So let me learn that my losses are my gain
To be broken is to heal
That the valley’s where Your power is revealed

The lyrics have a far greater depth and richness compared to some of the repetitive drivel that’s out there today, and the music is diverse, but restrained in presentation without any hint of showmanship. The vocals are front and center, and never overwhelmed by the music such that the lyrics become unintelligible.

Being the somewhat obsessive collector that I am, I went looking for the prayer book and found a copy (to my complete surprise) in our local Christian bookstore. This is not a review of that book. I’ve barely had time to crack it open; but I will admit that my eye was drawn to the prayer “God All-Sufficient” in the index:

O Lord of grace,
The world is before me this day,
and I am weak and fearful,
but I look to thee for strength;

If I venture forth alone I stumble and fall,
but on the beloved’s arms I am firm as the eternal hills;

If left to the treachery of my heart I shall shame thy name,
but if enlightened, guided, upheld by thy Spirit,
I shall bring thee glory.

Be thou my arm to support,
my strength to stand, my light to see,
my feet to run, my shield to protect,
my sword to repel, my sun to warm.

To enrich me will not diminish thy fullness;
All thy lovingkindness is in thy Son,
I bring him to thee in the arms of faith,
I urge his saving name as the one who died for me.
I plead his blood to pay my debts of wrong.

Accept his worthiness for my unworthiness,
his sinlessness for my transgressions,
his purity for my uncleanness,
his sincerity for my guile,
his truth for my deceits,
his meekness for my pride,
his constancy for my backslidings,
his love for my enmity,
his fullness for my emptiness,
his faithfulness for my treachery,
his obedience for my lawlessness,
his glory for my shame,
his devotedness for my waywardness,
his holy life for my unchaste ways,
his righteousness for my dead works,
his death for my life.

I am looking forward to exploring this collection with more attention and time.

†The Valley of Vision: A collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions
Edited by Arthur G. Bennett
Published by Banner of Truth (1975)