Ephesians
singing and making melody in your heart
to the Lord;”
Be Thou My Vision
Isaiah 6:1 says, “In the year that king Uzziah died I
saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and His
train filled the temple.”
“Isaiah saw , in a vision, God on His throne actively governing His
people”, Ryrie notes.
Isaiah was graced to be able to see God in a vision. We, who are called
by His Name are also able
to ‘see’ God, though perhaps not necessarily in a
vision but by other
means: by reading His Word and studying His Word; meditating on His Word,
seeking and waiting for His direction and then obeying Him, meditating on God,
the Person: Who He is, and then strengthening our relationship with God in a
progressively more personal and intimate way, as He reveals Himself to
us.
How is our vision of Jesus? Is it a 20/20 vision? Or, are our lenses defective, causing
improper focusing? Do we suffer from spiritual blindness?
- Is our vision of Jesus based on our internal spiritual perception
of Him or is our vision
of Jesus based on a glimpse of who others say He is?
- Or perhaps our vision of Jesus is based on a daily soaking in
of God’s Word; letting it dwell in us richly. Or perhaps our vision of Jesus
is based on a daily skimming of
- Perhaps it is a perception of Jesus that comes from a deep and rich
relationship, the result of prayer or perhaps your perception of Jesus is
by way of a quick, on the run, prayer?
Be Thou My Vision, is an ancient Irish hymn which was translated by Mary E. Byrne,
1880-1931 and versified
by Eleanor H. Hull, 1860-1935.
I.
Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my
heart
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou
art;
Thou my best thought, by day or by
night
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my
light.
The great impetus of this stanza is not passive request, but a pleading of
the hymn writer to lay
hold on God to be Lord of his life.
The writer seems to understand what Galatians
He wants Christ to be the
one in charge of his life, the One Who lives in him.
He understands that
nothing and no one in this life matters more than his relationship with Jesus Christ. He wants nothing this world has to
offer, but only what Jesus has for Him, and in fact, only Jesus Himself. The writer wants his focus to be
20/20…perfect vision, which is more than perfect, if Jesus is His vision. His vision is
complete!
II.
Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true
Word
I ever with Thee and Thou with me,
Lord;
Thou my great Father, and I Thy true
son
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee
one.
With Jesus as his only focus, his complete being will be complete and
filled: his heart, his thoughts, his waking hours, his sleeping hours. The writer expresses the reliance he has
in Jesus’ ever-presence with him and considers Jesus’ presence with him the
illumination of his day and all of his life.
If our lives could be traced or marked by the joyous events in our lives:
first cars, a new job, moving to a new home, a special vacation, marriages,
children being born and taking their first steps, the first day of school and
then college graduations, grandchildren, anniversary celebrations, being able to
finally retire…
And the list goes on…So
many memories spring to mind and flood our souls with satisfaction and
hopefully, thanksgiving for God’s blessing on our lives.
In all of these memories, did we see the Lord, Himself IN
these events, or did we just see His blessings, the things we received or were
granted? As we look back to these
memories, how was our vision at the times of these blessings? Did we notice God’s fingerprints on our
lives at these times? Did we take
note of His presence and His power?
His Sovereignty? Or was our
vision blurred? Did we have an
astigmatism? Did we not
perceive His nearness. Or, were we
farsighted, seeing Jesus in the remote distances of our lives and not
acknowledging His near and direct presence in our lives? The hymn writer expresses this very
thought in verse 3.
III.
Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty
praise
Thou mine inheritance, now and
always;
Thou and Thou only, first in my
heart
High King of heaven, my Treasure Thou
art.
Our vision of God is dependent on our character. Certainly salvation is key and the
precipitous point of the evidence of God in our lives. But the measure, that is the depth and
breath of God in my life, is parallel and in the same measure as our vision of
God—that is, seeing Him, and then having His vision and His response for all
that will happen in our lifetime.
Why is this so important? We are saved! God loves us! God has forgiven us! God is living in us and we have the assurance of going to Heaven to be with Him in Eternity! So, why do we need to have an enlarged vision of Jesus in our life? Perhaps verse 4 of the hymn will help to answer this question.
IV.
High King of heaven, my victory
won,
May I reach heaven’s joys, O bright heav’n’s
Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever
befall,
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.
In this verse the writer acknowledges his personal salvation and his
expected hope of Eternity and all the joys awaiting him there. But, we see also, that his confidence in
his God is unshakeable and he has learned, by his continually walk with the
Father, to remove his own heart’s desires and want only Jesus and want His
heart’s desires for him:
“Heart of my own heart,
whatever befall”
His heart is Jesus and his reliance is Jesus regardless of
what may come his way in life.
Why? Jesus is every his
vision and he has given over his life to Christ to rule in him and over all of
his life.
Let’s read Galatians
Let us note from Galatians
“I am crucified with Christ:
Christ liveth in me
I live by the faith of the Son of
God…
It is not MY faith I am living by, but
the faith of the Son of God.
How is our vision? Do we need an adjustment? Do we need new “eyeglasses”? We can begin right now, at this very moment to make Jesus our Vision, Lord of our life, our Wisdom, our Treasure, Heart of our own heart and Ruler of all.
Prepared by Mercedes S. Whelan
for