Sunday, July 22, 2007

Lord be my vision, I pray.

This is one of those hymns, that never gets old.

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, I Thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

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.

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.

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.

Originally composed in Old Irish, the words of "Be Thou My Vision" are attributed to the eighth-century Irish poet, Dallan Forgaill. If the Church of Jesus Christ today around the world prayed this prayer steadfastly and wholeheartedly, what a Copernican revolution of God-centeredness would likely come to pass!" -John Piper

2 comments:

Unknown said...

What a hymn, bro! Thanks for sharing it.

Recent quote I heard in passing (paraphrase) "God shows that he's not selfish in light of how interested he is in us." Hmmm... compare that with the Piper quote you shared.

donsands said...

"Why are you mindful of man at all Lord?"

Man is a little insignificant speck compared to God and His creation.
And yet, He is mindful. That's supposed to make no sense to us, and make our head swim.

But today many think, "Yep, God really needs me, I'm something very special".
Sad. That's humanism. Man-centered love.
It's not divine sacrificial love.