Recorded Prayers

There is nothing novel about the idea of keeping a prayer book. History records that Christians, and those who are not Christians, have recorded prayers that they have regularly used, since time immemorial. There are also published books of collections of prayers from various time periods. There is nothing new about prayer books except that, of late, certain Protestant fundamental traditions have come to frown upon them and discontinue their use. This attitude has been due to a concern about prayers becoming “vain repetitions” as per Matthew 6:7

Matt 6:7

7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.

(KJV)

This attitude would have astonished the Puritans of old, because they wrote and used prayer books all the time. I have in my possession one such collection of Puritan prayers, called The Valley of Vision, [The Banner of Truth Trust, 1975] which has astonished me with just how heart-full, happy, and spiritually aware the Puritans were. In this volume, the negative Hollywood-style stereotypes of the Puritans are shown up for being exactly what they are: Negative stereotypes. Take this prayer for example:

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 the 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.

Does that sound like a nasty, prune-faced, kill-joy, witch-burning hypocrite to you? If anything, it sounds to me like the author of this prayer anticipated G.K. Chesterton by about 200 years.

I will address the issue of using other people’s prayers, and repetition in prayer, in the next chapter. For now I will point out that there is nothing in and of itself wrong with using a previously constructed or written down prayer for the following reasons.

First, the LORD Himself once commanded that the Aaronic priesthood use a specific prayer that was later written down.

Num 6:22-27

22 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

23 Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying, On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them,

24 The LORD bless thee, and keep thee:

25 The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:

26The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.

27 And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them.

(KJV)

Second, many of the Psalms are in fact prayers unto the LORD, and the writers of the New Testament recommended their use (Eph. 5:19, Col. 3:16, James 5:13).

And lastly, in our latest translations of the New Testament, we are now aware that what were once thought to be extempore prayers are really carefully constructed verse forms that were constructed from other written sources and meant to be committed to memory for later re-use. Romans 11:33-36 is a prayer put into poetic verse form as seen in the New International Version:

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!

How unsearchable his judgments,

and his paths beyond tracing out!

"Who has known the mind of the Lord?

Or who has been his counselor?"

"Who has ever given to God,

that God should repay him?"

For from him and through him and to him are all things.

To him be the glory forever! Amen.

This prayer seems to have been constructed from Psalm 92:5 and Job 11:7 and Isaiah 40:13,14. While writing this epistle to the Romans, it looks like Paul apparently came to this place in his letter and had this prayer pop up in his memory, and was then led by the Holy Spirit of God to include it in the epistle. Likewise, it seems, is Rev 1:7:

Look, he is coming with the clouds,

and every eye will see him,

even those who pierced him;

and all the peoples of the earth will mourn

because of him.

So shall it be! Amen.

... which seem to have been constructed from Dan 7:13, Zec 12:10.

So there is nothing in and of itself wrong with using previously constructed, remembered, or written down prayers. Again, I will discuss the issue of repetition and properly using other people’s prayers in the next chapter.