OUR DAILY BREAD : THE VALLEY OF VISION

[cimi]

WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 30


THE VALLEY OF VISION

READ:
Jonah 2:7
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I remembered you,
LORD, and my
prayer rose to you.
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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. ______Jennifer Benson schuldt

**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.
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The darkness of sin, only makes the light of God's grace shine brighter

*****************************Today's bible Reading __ Jonah 2:1-10*****************************
1 From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the LORD his God.

2 He said:
"In my distress I called to the LORD, and He answered
me. From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help,
and you listened to my cry. 3 You hurled me into the depths,
into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about
me; all your waves and breakers swept over me. 4 I said, 'I have
been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward
your holy temple.' 5 The engulfing waters threatened me, the
deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head.

6 To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath
barred me in forever. But you, LORD my God, brought my life
up from the pit.

7 "When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, LORD,
and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple.

8 "Those who cling to worthless idols turn away from God's
love for them. 9 But I, with shouts of grateful praise, will
sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. I will say,
'Salvation comes from the LORD.' "

10 And the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah
onto dry land.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>INSIGHT<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Jonah initially ministered to the northern
kingdom of Israel during the powerful reign of Jeroboam 2 (2 KINGS
14:23). 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 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