"Be Thou My Vision"

Once again, Fathers' Day has come and gone. I always wish my dad was here to celebrate Fathers' Day with us, but I try to take time to remember the wonderful father that I had and how good my Heavenly Father has been to me ever since dad died.

This morning I came into the office, opened my email, and found a message in there sent from one of my music teachers. In the email, he was talking about the song "Be Thou My Vision" and he shared part of an article that he had run across that seemed to tie in so well with that song. "Be Thou My Vision" has
always been a very special song to me (I asked my best friends to sing it at the wedding) because it speaks of the surrender, trust, and relationship with God that I truly desire to have and frames it in words of such reverence that truly bespeaks how great our God is.
Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Be all else but naught to me, save that Thou art.
Be Thou my best Thought, in the day or the night,
Both waking and sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;
Be Thou ever with me and I with Thee, Lord;
Be Thou my great Father, and I Thy true son;
Be Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

Be Thou my Breastplate, my Sword for the fight;
Be Thou my strong Armor, be Thou my true might!
Be Thou my soul’s Shelter, be Thou my high Tower:
O raise Thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
Be Thou mine Inheritance, now and always:
Be 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 Thou my Vision, O Ruler of all.

I love that phrase, "Whatever befall, still be Thou my Vision, O Ruler of all." Now here's a few thoughts. The words are written in such a way that make it hard to understand, so take your time:

“There is no personal knowledge of God but as we count on Him, as
we are practically conscious of depending on Him and of His caring for
us. One without straits, and victories, really has no growing
acquaintance with God; and where there is not this, however great the
intelligence or sincerity, there is little or no savor.” Hey, that’s a good sentence. Read that one again.

“It is the trials and difficulties of the way that are the opportunities for
our hearts to grow in acquaintance with Him; and it will be found, while
there may be a great enjoyment in ministry, and in the unfolding of truth,
that really there is not strength but in proportion as one has learned how
God has been for and with one in the trials and sorrows of the way; and
as one has known Him in them, so is one able to speak of Him.”

“The one purpose which our Father has in view, in all His ways, is to
conform us to the image of His Son. This may explain our perplexities as
to the past; it will govern our behavior in the present; it is to be our
guidance in the future. The chief concern of our Lord is not to instruct us
about a multitude of details, not to explain to us the reason for the trials
which we are called to pass through. He is working out everything to
serve His supreme purpose in displaying the character of His Son in His redeemed ones.”

So what does all of that have to do with "Be Thou My Vision" and Fathers' Day? Haha! I promise you I do have a point! :) I must surrender to God; trust Him to lead me; trust Him to take care of me in everything; make Him the most important thing, and let Him be Ruler "whatever befall." The importance of having this kind of surrender to God (where He is my 'vision') becomes real when trials enter my life. Trials like my dad dying. I am certain that God is working out everything to serve His supreme purpose in displaying the character of His Son in His redeemed one (me). That is why I wanted "Be Thou My Vision" in the wedding. I wanted to remind myself on the first day of my marriage to Jordan not only of our committment to God "whatever befall," but also of the very attributes of God that make Him Who He is. I wish with all my heart that Dad could have been at the wedding and at all the other 'special' days over the last 9 years. But I wonder, if God had not brought this trial into my life, if I would really have grown to know Him like I do now? Or would I have been so secure in my 'perfect' little world that I would never have had any reason to learn what a great Father He is? I hope that someday I can look back and see how God used these times to conform me into the image of Christ.