Hymns of the Church – Be Thou My Vision – 27 June 2023, Anno Domini

  

 

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HERE there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he. (Proverbs 29:18)

 

Today’s hymn, Be Thou My Vision (Bí Thusa 'mo Shúile), is a classical Irish hymn of the 8^th century. It is sung to the Irish folk tune of Slane. It is a Celtic Christian hymn whose author is rumored to have suffered blindness later in life – that is, physical blindness perhaps to hone his spiritual vision. It is a reminder of the perfect love and Presence we have in our Lord Jesus Christ when our hearts are stayed on Him. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. (Isaiah 26:3)

 

Be Thou My Vision

 

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.

 

Be thou my wisdom, and thou my true word;

I ever with thee and thou with me, Lord.

Thou my great Father; thine own may I be,

thou in me dwelling and I one with thee.

 

Riches I heed not, nor vain, empty praise;

thou mine inheritance, now and always;

thou and thou only first in my heart,

high King of heaven, my treasure thou art.

 

High King of heaven, my victory won,

may I reach heaven’s joys, O bright heaven’s sun!

Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,

still be my vision, O Ruler of all.

 

            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. Vision has always been a function of light. Without light, there can be no vision. There are false lights of this world that beckon to our fleshly desires, but there is also the Light of this World which shines in splendor to point the way of righteousness. When our vision is fixed on Christ and His Holy Word, we can see clearly the way to go in a dark and wilderness world of sin. When the Light of Christ encompasses our full range of vision, our thoughts and actions are determined by the path that Light illuminates.

 

            Be thou my wisdom, and thou my true word; I ever with thee and thou with me, Lord. Thou my great Father; thine own may I be, thou in me dwelling and I one with thee. Solomon has said it well in Proverbs 9:10  – The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. The fear of the Lord does not result in understanding through the process of osmosis – we must STUDY His Word diligently to become familiar with the wisdom it conveys. Christ, during His last night before betrayal in Gethsemane, prayed that we might be One with Him as He is One with the Father. Being One with Christ is also being One with the Father and with the Holy Spirit since there is no division in nature and character in the Triune Godhead. As we study the Word, raw knowledge is transformed into the wisdom to know the Will of the Lord and to live it out in our lives.

 

            Riches I heed not, nor vain, empty praise; thou mine inheritance, now and always; thou and thou only first in my heart, high King of heaven, my treasure thou art. When we stand before a wonderful work of art, we see only the art and not the frame. When our vision is fixed on Christ, the mundane trinkets of the world do not entice us. We behold the greatest beauty of Christ which makes all worldly concerns unattractive. We do have an inheritance with Christ our Redeemer and Savior. We are bound to that same Promised Land to which Moses entered when he died on Mt. Pisgah and was buried in the Valley of Moab – the same in Presence with our Lord and our God. All that we count of value on earth is of temporary value and use. One day, we will leave all these behind and awaken to a new glory that surpasses the best words to describe. We are princes and princesses as the sons and daughters of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. We should quit ourselves as such in this present life.

 

High King of heaven, my victory won, may I reach heaven’s joys, O bright heaven’s sun! Heart of my own heart, whatever befall, still be my vision, O Ruler of all. When the world casts it slings and arrows of outrageous fortune against us, our security in Christ is magnified by the backdrop of those pitiful elements of the world. Amazingly, we are in a battle against an enemy of great cunning and intelligence, but, at the same time, we are made to know that the victory has already been achieved. We see worldly war actions such as the bombing of the Naval facilities at Pearl Harbor in 1941. It was a devastating attack and one which gave its perpetrators much confidence of victory; yet, four years latter, the matter was settled by surrender aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. Our enemies in this world may celebrate what they imagine is triumph over the Church and people of God, but we must bear in mind that the last chapter has already been written large in victory for the Church. Whatever trials arise, lose not faith, gird your garments of armor about you and press on to that victory of which we are assured in Christ.

 

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 DEATH, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. (1 Corinthians 15:55-58)