Be Thou My Vision

I’ve mentioned in previous blogs about how the Lord often
speaks to me through song. At the Awakening, we were led in worship by Jonathan
David Helser and his band. He is an incredible worship leader and once I knew
the songs, it was amazing. But the first or second night, we were singing a lot
of songs I didn’t know. I was trying to follow along, but I always have a hard
time getting into it if I don’t know the words. I know I should probably be over this by now,
especially after so many Sundays in non-English speaking churches, but I am
still working on it.

At any rate, that night one of his songs led into Be Thou My
Vision. This has been one of my favorite songs for many years. It was the first
song all day I knew the words too, but what I didn’t know was the history
behind it.

So it is an Irish song through and through-written by Irish
monks in the 6^th century, given a tune about St. Patrick’s stand
against High King Loegaire, and translated but left with an Irish vibe and now
sung all over the world.

And now
that we have a deeper understanding of the history of the song, allow me to
share with you some new revelations about the lyrics themselves. Most people
are familiar with the first verse:

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.

This
is challenging. I have prayed for God’s eyes so many times this year, and most
times when he gives them to me, it is overwhelming. I long to love like Jesus loves, but it is hard, and to see all the brokenness
in the world and know Jesus is the only answer…

Be thou my wisdom, thou my true word,

I ever with thee and thou with me Lord;

Thou my great Father, I thy true son;

Thou in me dwelling, and I with thee one.

God has given me a lot of wisdom and insight this year. One
of my gifts is wisdom. This is a weird gift to have as the youngest person on
your team and one of the youngest on your squad, but it is true. When God gives
me a word and I do speak it out, it is truth and it has power. God is my great
Daddy and I am his true daughter. I am a co-heir with Christ. God dwells in me!
(Did you realize all that truth about who you are and your identity was snuck
in here, this ancient song?)

The third verse many people are not familiar with:

Be thou my battle shield, sword for the fight;

Be thou my dignity, thou my delight;

Thou my soul’s shelter, thou my high tower:

Raise thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.

God equips us with his armor for
the fight. Our battle shield is in Him, His word and truth is my sword for the
fight. He is the power of my power. He gives me all I have and all I need-my
soul’s shelter.

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.

God is my inheritance-the kingdom
of God is my inheritance. I am a co-heir with Christ. God needs to be first in
my heart and be my treasure. I need to be driven by the presence of the Lord
and by the dreams He is downloading in me.

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.

Finally-my victory is already
won. Jesus already paid the price to bring me into the kingdom. God, give me
your heart, give me your eyes, give me the keys to the kingdom, to see it come
on earth.

These are such hard
things to pray, but so essential. If you sing this song and really mean it, it
is a challenge. But it is rewarding and God is good and God is faithful.