Valley of Vision Prayer - Holy Scriptures (1)

“O God of truth, I thank thee for the holy Scriptures, their precepts, promises, directions, light.

In them may I learn more of Christ, be enabled to retain his truth and have grace to follow it.

Help me to lift up the gates of my soul that he may come in and show me himself when I search the Scriptures, for I have no [lead] lines to fathom its depths, no wings to soar to its heights.

By his aid may I be enabled to explore all its truths, love them with all my heart, embrace them with all my power, engraft them into my life.”

The Valley of Vision, edited by Arthur Bennett, Banner of Truth Trust, page 346

I suppose we all get junk mail. Sometimes unrequested mail comes in the form of official government documents - from envelope to letterhead to bureaucratic-sounding language. Sometimes these deceitful envelopes and letters are so realistic that I wonder how many unwary people fall for these solicitation scams. I am so jaded by advertising deceit that at times I’m tempted to toss anything that remotely appears to be junk mail. However, more than once I’ve opened a nondescript envelope to find something important such as a new ATM card or a computer-generated check. There are times what looks important is a scam and what doesn’t look important is valuable.

Imagine a man or woman on the verge of losing his or her home, in the depths of fear and anxiety, going to the mailbox and sorting through the mail. Item after item appears to be either a collection letter or a solicitation - and item after item gets tossed without being opened. Six months later, our man (or woman) is living with friends, trying to get back on his feet, having lost his home. The future looks bleak, he has little hope, he is just trying to get through each day doing the best he can. He is in his office working when the receptionist walks to his door and tells him that he has a visitor. He gets up from his chair and walks down the hall to the lobby, fearful that the visitor is a bill collector who has the temerity to actually come to his job. He braces himself for a confrontation.

When he arrives at the lobby the receptionist points out a smartly-dressed woman sitting and looking at her smartphone. He tentatively walks over to her.

“Ms. Beckham? I am Al Jones, how can I help you?”

“I am sorry to bother you at work Mr. Jones, we’ve been trying to track you down and finally found you via Linkedin. I went by the last address we had for you but you’ve obviously moved. None of our letters have been answered and we’d really like to close the books on your uncle’s estate.”

“What?”

“Your great-uncle Walter Jones, your grandfather’s brother; he passed away eleven months ago. You know he had no children and after leaving a good portion of his estate to charity he bequeathed money and property to family members - he’s left you $265,000.00. We sent you a number of notifications over the past year but you have not responded. Do you have time for us to go over the details and arrange payment?”

“Sure, let’s go to my office.”

In his office, as Al watched Ms. Beckham remove papers from her portfolio, he recognized the letterhead on the documents, the same letterhead that had been on more than one envelope he had thought was junk mail and had thrown away at his former home.

We have a propensity to look for answers everywhere but in the one place where we can find the true answers - the Bible. We think that whatever is newer must be better. We think whatever is shiny must be more valuable. We think that whatever is popular must be what we need.

Do we not stop and consider that for ages men and women, rich and poor, powerful and humble, from myriad cultures, languages, and backgrounds have found treasure and fulfilment and their destiny in the Scriptures? Do we wonder how this can be?

Do we wonder why people and institutions and cultures are so hostile to the Bible? After all, if it is only a book what is there to be afraid of. If it has no power or influence why care whether it is read or not?

Sadly many of us have preconceived notions of the Bible fostered on us by those hostile to the idea that there is a God, that life is more than the “natural” world, that something is inherently wrong with us that needs healing (what the Bible teaches is the result of sin). These people assume the role of “expert” in denigrating the Bible and doing their best to discourage others from reading it, sometimes to the point of ridicule. These people would like you to throw God’s letter to you away as if it were junk mail.

As the above prayer excerpt demonstrates, the Scriptures are God’s communication to humanity, more than that, they are God’s self-disclosure to us; God reveals Himself to us - in one sense it is a “tell all” book. Of course, God does not just tell us about Himself, He tells us about ourselves. I am more excited about the Bible today than I have ever been, it is fresher to me today than it has ever been - I began reading the Bible in 1966 and I was excited about it then, but I am more excited now.

When the above prayer says “I have no lines [a reference to leadlines once used by ships to measure depth]  to to fathom its depths, no wings to soar to its heights,” I know that feeling - the vast expanse of the Bible is overwhelming, its vibrancy, its life, its wisdom, its hope, its joy...and the peace that we can find in a relationship with the true and living God. While God used others to lead me to Himself, it was through reading the Bible that I met Him; I have known others with the same experience.

The Bible is more than a book, and it certainly is not junk mail; it is supernatural, it speaks to our inner person, it gives us an eternal perspective, and it is where we touch God and are touched by Him, and it is where we can touch and be touched by one another.

Had Mr. Jones not thrown away the letter informing him of his inheritance his life would have been different.