SEPTEMBER 30, 2015
The Valley of Vision
Read:
Jonah
2:1-10
I
remembered you, Lord, and my prayer rose to you. — Jonah 2:7
The Puritan prayer “The Valley of Vision” speaks of the distance
between a sinful man and his holy God. The man says to God, “Thou hast brought
me to the valley of vision . . . ; hemmed in by mountains of sin I behold Thy
glory.” Aware of his wrongs, the man still has hope. He continues, “Stars can
be seen from the deepest wells, and the deeper the wells the brighter Thy stars
shine.” Finally, the poem ends with a request: “Let me find Thy light in my
darkness, . . . Thy glory in my valley.”
Jonah found God’s glory during his time in the ocean’s depths.
He rebelled against God and ended up in a fish’s stomach, overcome by his sin.
There, Jonah cried to God: “You cast me into the deep . . . . The waters
surrounded me, even to my soul” (Jonah 2:3,5 nkjv). Despite his situation,
Jonah said, “I remembered you, Lord, and my prayer rose to you” (v. 7). God
heard his prayer and caused the fish to free him.
Although sin creates distance between God and us, we can look up
from the lowest points in our lives and see Him—His holiness, goodness, and
grace. If we turn away from our sin and confess it to God, He will forgive us.
God answers prayers from the valley.
Lord, in the daytime
stars can be seen from deepest wells, and the deeper the wells the brighter
Your stars shine; let me find Your light in my darkness.
The darkness of sin only makes the
light of God’s grace shine brighter.
INSIGHT:
Jonah initially ministered to the northern
kingdom of Israel during the powerful reign of Jeroboam II (2 Kings 14:23-28).
God reassigned him to minister to the Assyrian city of Nineveh and to warn them
to repent or face God’s judgment (Jonah 1:1). After Jonah refused this new
mission and instead fled in the opposite direction (v. 3), God disciplined him
by causing him to be swallowed up by a big fish during a violent storm (vv.
4,17). Jonah 2 records Jonah’s prayer of repentance when he was inside the
fish. Jesus used this event to foreshadow His own burial and resurrection when
He said, “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge
fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the
earth” (Matt. 12:40; Jonah 1:17). Sim Kay Tee
Source: Our Daily Bread 2015
