Day 25 - Be Thou My Vision (Mary E. Byrne)
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.
This song always moves me and I realise that I am so distracted by my present realities that my vision of God dims. I can lean on my own wisdom not His as my first response. I realise how much I care about what others think, their empty praise and my vanity. This song has become a prayer as it is my greater heart desire. My shallow desires are often what we focus on but our deeper desires… the first in our hearts is Jesus. It is this first heart desire and priority that made us become Christians. That we choose to surrender our lives to God and all other desires go down the pecking order. He is the High King of heaven and deserves to be treasured by his created sons and daughters. It is because of Him we are saved. It’s Him our heart longs for and a joy to serve Him. Giving an eternal perspective allows us to say that ‘whatever befalls’ God will still be God of my heart, my vision, purpose and ruler over my life. This whatever befalls attitude reminds me of Daniel.
Daniel 3:17-18:
“If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”
Daniel and his friends were told not to pray but their deepest desire was God and their integrity prevented them from bowing to other gods. They stood up for what was right and were faithful to God. They had a whatever befalls attitude that did not make them cave into pressure or compromise but press further into God.
Let us declare to our circumstances that whatever befalls I will not go to my shallow wisdom/ understanding or desire for man’s empty praise but will have the integrity to be true to the deepest desires of our heart in Christ. I pray that we will have a tenacious attitude that seeks His wisdom and perspective, that he will be our vision by day or by night. That I will know God’s presence in my daily life as King of heaven, ruling victorious that whatever befalls I will still be His and remain faithful to Him.
'Think about / Meditate on':
Do I have a ‘whatever befalls’ attitude?
How do I remain faithful to God and have integrity in all areas of my life, work, family, friends etc?
What prompts can I put in my day to remind me of my deepest desire of God; that in my waking and sleeping his presence remains at the forefront of my mind? How can we practice the presence of God especially at those points we are likely to compromise?
Sing this song as a prayer, this version by Audrey Assad: https://youtu.be/Optrm7lF16s
Written by Pastor Katherine (Lead Pastor - C3 UL Sutton Central)