Vision
How is your vision? Your spiritual vision, that is.
The last blog post asked “Can we have light?” We can have a lot of light, but if we are blind, we will not be able to see it or be aware of it.
Psalm 119:105 says “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path”.
Hopefully, as He shines the light of His Word, our spiritual eyes will be able to see the way to go, as He leads.
Allow me to share some scripture verses to shed some light on “spiritual vision”, a very important theme throughout scripture, and essential to following Christ. And after that, to share the story behind the song “You Be my Vision”.
If you would prefer to listen to the associated podcast, you can do so at this link (or scroll to the bottom to listen to the podcast on YouTube):
Eyes That See
In Isaiah 6:9-10 (when Isaiah was called, and he said “Here I am, send me!”) the voice of the LORD said to him:
“Go and tell this people: ‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’
Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”
Oh, how we need to turn and be healed!
Deuteronomy 29:2-6
“Moses summoned all the Israelites and said to them:
Your eyes have seen all that the LORD did in Egypt to Pharaoh, to all his officials and to all his land. With your own eyes you saw those great trials, those miraculous signs and great wonders. But to this day the LORD has not given you a mind that understands or eyes that see or ears that hear. During the forty years that I led you through the desert, your clothes did not wear out, nor did the sandals on your feet. You ate no bread and drank no wine or other fermented drink. I did this so that you might know that I am the LORD your God.”
If they had looked beneath the surface of their circumstances, victories and struggles, they would have seen the reality of the God Who led them. How often do we miss what’s beneath the surface? Jesus’ teachings frequently required His disciples to look more deeply at what He was truly saying. It’s also why He was so fond of speaking in parables.
Matthew 13:13-17
“This is why I speak to them in parables:
Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.
In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:
‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’
But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”
(And He was referring back to that very passage above from Isaiah.)
In Mark 8:14-21, Jesus warns his disciples about the “yeast of the Pharisees”, and they didn’t understand His deeper point. They only saw the surface level and thought He was talking about them not having bread with them.
In the beginning of verse 18, He says: “Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear?…” Then He recounted the miracles of Him breaking the loaves and fish to feed the four and five thousands.
When this interaction is discussed in the gospel of Matthew, it is explained further in 16:12 “Then they understood that he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
You Be My Vision
I love to rewrite old hymns, and years ago the beautiful hymn “Be Thou My Vision” was one that got such an update (with the name “You Be my Vision”, CCLI song number 7010069).
When I first rewrote this song, a scripture passage had sort of “jumped off the page” one morning in my quiet time before the Lord. I’d read it many times before, but this time the tables were turned a bit. There seemed to be a possible deeper meaning that I had never seen in it before. It was on my heart for quite a while as this hymn was rewritten and later recorded.
Back then, shortly after writing this version of the hymn, I had the opportunity to record it at the home recording studio of one of my friends (who is a very good musician and producer, BTW). He (Dave Edwards) and his wife (Julie) are dear friends, who have since then moved out of state. But on that day, he let me sit with my guitar and play/sing this song essentially in one take, as he recorded the song.
Hearkening back to that sweet moment in prayer with the Lord, when the words of scripture came alive that day, as I sang and played, it was almost like I was “singing in the Spirit” or pray-singing, and some specific concepts from that scripture passage ended up in the uncut version of that recording session. Some of the imagery is a bit non-traditional, so I’m not going to include it here in this post, but may go into it in the future, especially if folks ask that I do so.
Whatever the case, that prayer/song session resulted in a song that was TEN MINUTES (!) long, so I have edited it down to something more typical, leaving out some of the more “spontaneous” portions. Those parts, however have some very beautiful moments and thoughts, and if you’re interested, let me know, and I’ll delve into it further in a future blog post / podcast.
Lamb on the Throne
I did leave in some of my spontaneous singing at the end, and want to explain that a bit before you listen, since some of my “prayer/song” mixed two scriptural themes together, and are not exactly from the scripture accurately. In essence, what my heart was expressing was gratitude to Jesus for laying down Him life for us, and in His humility and grace He is seen as “a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne…” in Revelation 5:6
Mixed in with that thought as I sang was the truth that Jesus is now seated at the right hand of God.
It says in Hebrews 12:2 “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Another is from when Jesus was speaking to His accusers in Luke 22:69 “But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God.”
For now, He is seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven, hallelujah. He intercedes for us continually, praise His name. And one day, according to His perfect timing, He will rise on our behalf, as He stands in the gap for us and completes His purposes in Heaven and on earth.
All that to say, at the end of the song, know that the words I sing are not directly from the scripture, but are a combination of the images and thoughts above… I am leaving it in for this version of the song, since it was such a tender moment of worship to our King Who has been so gracious on our behalf. Information on where to hear the song is below.
Vision
Many of us know the KJV version of the beginning of Proverbs 29:18 “Where there is no vision, the people perish”. A couple of other notable translations add some depth to the meaning.
NIV: “Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; but blessed is he who keeps the law.”
And one more that I just “happened” to read this morning 😉
The Amplified Bible: “Where there is no vision [no redemptive revelations of God], the people perish; but he who keeps the law [of God, which includes that of man], blessed, happy, fortunate [and enviable] is he.”
Dear Lord Jesus, may You ALWAYS be our Vision, the One Who is first in our hearts.
To hear the song, head over to the Podcast associated with this blog (linked below), where you can hear me recount much of what is above, or head directly to the song which begins at the 9:30 time stamp.
May He give you a new revelation of the love of Christ for you.
You can hear the Podcast on Spotify at the link near the top of this page, or go to my YouTube channel at the link below where you can scroll directly to the time stamp (9:30) if you simply want to hear the song: