Sooner or later, it happens to every church-going man or woman. It’s as common as trolls on Twitter, and it happens almost every time we sing: We lie to ourselves, and we lie to God.
Whether we’re singing a great hymn of the church or something more recent, the lyrics are often aspirational–but not actual. Here’s an example from the Gettys:
In Christ alone, my hope is found…”
I want this to be true, but if I were honest, I’d have to admit that I place my hope in lesser things all the time.
Then there’s my favorite old hymn set to an Irish tune:
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.”
In more modern parlance, the lyrics declare that everything else is nothing compared to God. Day or night, the awareness of God’s presence–the mere thought of God is most precious to the singer.
Think about the words of your favorite hymn or worship song. Are you able to sing them with honesty?
Today, my spiritual vision is blurred. My view of God is cloudy. I don’t see the glory of God or savor the miracle of my salvation the way I should.
We–every one of us–are still works-in-progress, so our hope gets squandered on good health and success for our kids or a smaller size on the tag or a bigger number on the weekly paycheck. We take God for granted and receive all of his gifts like spoiled children.
We go hours without giving Him a thought, because, “waking or sleeping,” we are distracted by entertainment, acquisition, or simply our own personal whirring anxiety machine that lives inside our brains.
Failure to see God is a failure to see anything clearly.
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Hope for Clear Vision!
Thanks be to God, he has made a way to make honest women and men out of us all:
Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.”
1 John 3:2
This is our hope!
When the not-yet of our redemption becomes the NOW of seeing God face-to-face, we WILL honor him as we should, because we will finally see the glory with utter clarity.
Until then, let’s turn those aspirational lyrics into fervent prayer.
When I sing, “In Christ alone my hope is found,” I want to admit to God the Holy Spirit (who lives with my thoughts and knows about all my foolishness):
I need your help with this. My hope is misplaced!
Help me to place my hope in Christ and displace my hope in ME!”
When I sing the words, “Be Thou my vision,” the request is coming from a half-blind soul.
Because…
My heart will not follow what it does not love.
I cannot love what I cannot see and know.
Loving God and following God requires a clear view of his glory.
Jesus addressed humanity’s universal vision problem in his Sermon on the Mount:
Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? “
Matthew 7:3
Our blurred spiritual vision keeps us from mourning over our sin. Our cloudy concept of God keeps us from owning and confessing our poverty of spirit and coming, meekly, to the Lord for cleansing and wholeness.
Failure to see God is a failure to see anything clearly.
Lord, may we see you so clearly that we can’t miss the log in our eye, and may we be so humbly aware of our own diabolical and self-referential view of the world that we run to you and your Word for new vision and new hope every day.
Holding You in the Light,
The heart will not follow what it does not love. We cannot love what we cannot see and know. Loving God and following God requires a clear view of his glory.
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Living Our Days 
Ouch!!!! This article hit an area I’ve been thinking about recently. Actually last Sunday during the song service, I began thinking about some of the lyrics. I began to question myself as to whether or not these words really were from my heart or simply lip service.
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It’s wonderful that you are already thinking about your position in relation to the lyrics. So often we sing without hearing the words or letting them run through our brains!
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Oh yes. The lyrics ‘I need you Oh I need you, every hour I need you’ come to mind! Thank you for this call return to the truth of the matter!
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It changes everything if we tell God the truth (which he already knows!) that it’s NOT true but we want it to be!
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I believe in proper worship, that is worship from a pure heart, with a clear conscience, void of offense toward God and man. But as for clear vision, that is another story. God created me with two kinds of vision, the ability to see near and far at the same time, like the bald eagle which has two fovea or two sets of eyelids. So that is not easy for me from a physical point-of-view but from a spiritual persective, I can see God and thereby dwell in truth, not songs.
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So important to reinforce the truth that Scripture is God’s special revelation. So thankful that he wants to be known by us!
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Michele; This is an eye-opening post. I have often wondered if people in congregations take the time to actually think about what they are singing. Sometimes, I wonder if I am guilty of just saying the words and not letting them soak into my heart.
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I’m with you in the wondering. Especially once a song becomes familiar–I think we have to guard against the tendency to STOP HEARING the words as we sing on autopilot.
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So many songs today in worship services seem to be so empty of these prayers, these aspirations. You write: “let’s turn those aspirational lyrics into fervent prayer.” It not hypocritical to sing/pray these words with a heart hungry for that relationship, that alive, deep belief we are reaching for in the knowledge we have so much further to grow and trust God leads us there. It is hypocritical, knowing how blind and weak we are, to think we have arrived there already. Those old hymns seem to point the way, to encourage not to give up. You’ve given us such a rich soul meal, Michele. I’m going to have to sit here for a bit to soak it all up! Powerful post!
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I like to think about us sitting together and thinking about these things.
And I agree that the old hymn give us words we might not come up with on our own and yet we SHOULD be saying and thinking them!
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Sometimes I’ve added my own thoughts as we sing familiar hymns and choruses in church. For example: “In Christ alone my hope is found” (In this moment, Lord, I reaffirm my hope IS in you alone). “My Comforter, my All in All” (You HAVE been my Comforter; help me receive you as everything I need in all my moments). I need to do this more consistently. Thank you for the prompting, Michele!
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That’s a wonderful practice,Nancy, and it highlights the importance of that internal dialogue between us and God. Thank you for your great insight!
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Michele, after reading your words and the comments, I realize I should be more thoughtful and prayerful about the words I sing. Especially thankful for this:
“When the not-yet of our redemption becomes the NOW of seeing God face-to-face, we WILL honor him as we should, because we will finally see the glory with utter clarity.”
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Powerful post, Michele! I have the words to “Be Thou My Vision” written in my bible as a prayer….so good returning there!
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What a meaningful prayer and writing it in your Bible is a fantastic way to keep it before your eyes!
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