Love, Tuesday... Be Thou my vision

We’re approaching the middle of 2021…

And if you think that’s crazy impossible… I would agree with you! How is that even possible??

So what has been on my heart and what I want to share with you today is this:

We all know life didn’t miraculously change once the clock turned from 2020 to 2021. We also realize that maybe what we thought would get better by now… hasn’t. Have you, like me, asked God why things look the way they look in the world today? Are there moments where you see so much evil in this world and it seems as if evil is winning? Do you wonder why the Lord seems silent on things that you see happening, things maybe happening in your own life, that you question what is going on Lord?

(I promise this is not a depressing post… please keep reading)

Well, remember back in the beginning of 2020 when we were so expectant of “2020” vision?  We thought we were all cool when we thought of this… the year 2020… oh yeah, “2020” vision is what we’re going to have this year!  We started thinking that looking back and then going forward into 2020 would give us clarity on our lives, our dreams and our desires.  

Well, today I want to check in on you and see how 2021 is going for you.  

A lot has happened since Covid broke out. We can look back and see so much change, and not all for the better. But I’ve talked to a lot of friends and family who are feeling a shift. That even though we have been going through a lot of hard things, the Lord is stirring hearts and minds right now. So I want to see where you’re at and what you think too. I’d love to get your opinion after you read this and tell me what you’re seeing and what you think the Lord is doing.

At this point in 2021 we may feel like we’re still wandering around in a bit of a fog. Realizing life isn’t “back to normal” and things are still really hard. I get that. The past year and a half has been full of changes we never would have expected. We’ve seen our world turn upside down and inside out and everything in between! 

And that’s why I feel the Lord was wanting me to remind our hearts that the outlook on our lives… the VISION for our lives is still GOOD.

I want to encourage you today that the outlook for your life can still be filled with HOPE!

I recently learned more about the word Vision and I wanted to pass it onto you. When reading the Bible for understanding, we always want to get to the root word and meaning of the word in specific context.  So looking at the word vision, I found that it is synonymous with God’s desire.  (I’m not talking about “visions” but the word vision) It speaks of God’s will or desire for our lives.  His vision for our lives is also the same thing as His desire for our lives. What a great thought of God’s heart for us here.  We can know that God does have a vision for our lives, that He cares for each one of us and He desires our hearts to have His vision.

This morning as I was stirring awake, the song “Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my Heart” was on my mind.  What a blessing for my heart this morning as I’m writing this blog post and thinking about this them of vision!

Read the lyrics below and then I’ll share the story behind this hymn as well…

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, and I thy true son

Thou in me dwelling and I with thee one

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

Heart of my own heart, whatever befall

Still be my vision, O ruler of all

It is said that this is an Irish Celtic hymn written by Saint Dallan, who went blind in the middle of his life. Though Dallan endured much hardship from losing his sight, the effect of this forced darkness was to drive him back to God.  The words of this beautiful hymn (and prayer) capture his experience more deeply if we see this hymn through the struggles of this man’s life.  Yet he went blind, he trusted God with every part of his life and put Him first in his heart.

What a beautiful reminder for us.

But I wonder… Are we asking what God’s vision is for our lives first?

Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart!

Getting back to where we’re at in the middle of 2021, and knowing most of us are going through hard things still, I think of the song above and where our hearts are at. I know we all want good things for our lives.  Most likely we all have a “vision” (or desire) of what that might look like too. It’s not bad or wrong to desire for better days or good things to happen in our lives. It’s good to pray and ask God to give us clarity and His vision. The last year+ probably hasn’t looked anything like we thought it would look like.

So, how do we get to the place Saint Dallen came to and the prophet Habakkuk came to in the following story. I think this might give us some of that “God vision” or clarity we’re looking for…

Let me share with you about the prophet Habakkuk.  He had a conversation with God about just this same dilemma. He wondered, in his day, why things were so bad, and why He didn’t see any relief from Heaven coming.  He felt that God was silent on the evil spreading through the land.  And maybe like the prophet Habakkuk, we see a world that looks nothing like the world we’d like to see, and we question if God sees what’s going on… or to take that further, why He isn’t doing anything about it?  

What we see in Habakkuk though is that the prophet didn’t complain about it.  He didn’t take out his frustration on God and he didn’t run from the hard things.  He waited for the Lord, he knew he could come to God in prayer and have a conversation with Him.  And I love this part…

He was confident that God would answer him!

Listen to Habakkuk 2:1-4

The Just Shall Live by Faith

“I will stand my watch

And set myself on the rampart,

And watch to see what He will say to me,

And what I will answer when I am corrected.

Then the Lord answered me and said:

“Write the vision

And make it plain on tablets,

That he may run who reads it.

For the vision is yet for an appointed time;

But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie.

Though it tarries, wait for it;

Because it will surely come,

It will not tarry.

“Behold the proud,

His soul is not upright in him;

But the just shall live by his faith.””

What happened after these verses you may wonder?  Most likely NOT what Habakkuk expected.  They weren’t relieved of the evil, evil actually seemed like it was winning for a while!  God told Habakkuk that He was sending the Babylonians ( a wicked nation) to punish them.  What?!  Not exactly what he was hoping for I’m sure.   But… and this is where we need to pay attention… Habakkuk knew God would be faithful to the faithful, and deal with the wicked, and he trusted God for the outcome.  He believed that justice would eventually happen and He knew with all his heart that God is always in control, whether we see it or not. I know that’s where we/I need to stand as well in this year of uncertainty… and every year going forward as well.

See, God used another nation to execute His justice. He brought pain into their lives (the righteous and the unrighteous) for a season, and there was correction and chastisement that needed to happen. The wicked and prideful in Judah (those who thought they would get away with their evil ways), were punished and even though God may have tarried, it “surely came.” 

And it probably drew Habakkuk and those who trusted in God into a deeper relationship with Him.

Habakkuk reminds us that even though we see evil, even when it surrounds us and destruction is eminent, there is hope for those who hold fast to God.  When our confidence and trust is in the Lord and our hope is held firm in the hands of God, we can trust and not fear.  

Like in Habakkuk 2:14, we can know that:  “The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters covers the sea.”

And then what does Habakkuk do after hearing these words from the Lord? He rejoices in this knowledge and he sings praises to God!  In the midst of all the trouble, the uncertainty and the evil upon them, Habakkuk sings praises to His God!  He sings about God’s power to save, his confidence that God will show mercy on the faithful and of God’s sovereignty over all the earth.  This is right in the middle of just hearing from God what He is going to do. And it’s major stuff I’m pretty sure he didn’t want to happen… yet He trusted and praised the Lord.

If we look at this book of the Bible in the current days we’re living in, we can see so many parallels.  Things have looked completely different than we expected life to look like.  We do see evil and prideful people prospering.  It is frustrating to see what’s going on in this world and not complain or be fearful. Like I said earlier, sometimes I forget that God knows and sees and will bring justice.  Maybe you do too?

And, just like us today, I’m sure the people of those days had hopes and dreams too… visions for what their lives would look like.  They certainly didn’t expect (or desire) more hardships to come, or evil rulers to overtake them.  I’m pretty sure they were hoping for better days ahead, not worse.  Like Habakkuk, the people of God were most likely praying for God to take away the evil and save them from the world they lived in. But God didn’t remove the hardships or the evil, right away.

We can understand this more clearly now…in 2021, can’t we? If you’re like me, you’ve also wondered and prayed for better days this last year+ and what have we seen?  Things getting harder, evil more prevalent, maybe even pride or selfishness in our own hearts wanting to rear its ugly head… Oh, the list goes could go on and on.

But God…

If “2020 vision” has taught us something, I believe it’s revealed what little control we have over our lives. Yes, we may plan and dream and have “vision” for our lives, but the sovereignty of God will always prevail. It reminds me of Proverbs 19:21 “Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails.” 

That’s not a dire statement friends. It’s not a negative either. It should be what we REJOICE in!

I hope that in all of this, we can look back… back to God’s Word… and we learn from the examples He has written for us.  Now more than ever I see great parallels with our lives and the lives of those who we read about in the Bible. And I pray my heart, and yours, finds that in the middle of 2021, through all that 2020 and beyond brought us, God is showing us something.  That he is still teaching us and maybe even testing us in our faith.

Maybe God’s vision for our lives is completely different than what we imagined, or dreamed… or would desire?  Like these examples I’ve shared with you today, the Lord could be using hard things to correct, to change course and to bring us into His will, and back to our first love. 

Him. 

Could this pandemic and everything coming to light during this time remind us that there is no place dark enough, no place evil enough and no place hard enough that God’s grace won’t go to change hearts? Would it be out of the realm of possibility that God is putting renewed purpose in His people’s lives SO THAT we can be a witness for Him? He desires to save the lost and He uses US to share His love with the world we live in. There is work still to be done. Are we willing to be like Habakkyk and say: Even if… “yet I will rejoice in the Lord.” (Hab. 3:18)

“Though the fig tree does not bud

    and there are no grapes on the vines,

though the olive crop fails

    and the fields produce no food,

though there are no sheep in the pen

    and no cattle in the stalls,

yet I will rejoice in the Lord,

    I will be joyful in God my Savior.”

This year+ HAS been life-changing, but it can be in the BEST of ways!

This could be the time of a great awakening in our world.  The time when we as believes in Jesus Christ can be a light in the darkness. 

When, EVEN IF, God is still GOOD. 

When we can point people to the Lord by our witness and say with all sincerity:

When we trust in the Lord and we rejoice in our Savior!

We have a choice as to how we respond to the difficulties in our lives. We also have the awesome opportunity to look to God’s vision for our lives and be a witness of His hope in this world. 

I’ll share more on Friday on this theme with my “Friday Journaling Prompt” and I really hope you’ll come back for some reminders for our hearts and some thoughts I have on ways to encourage all of us to rejoice in the Lord, regardless of our circumstances.

Please let me know if you think I’m just babbling on here or if you are coming to realize these things as well. I really believe the Lord is opening our eyes to the big picture… and friends, we have a job to do. And I would LOVE to team up with you and see what the Lord will do when we are “all in” together!!

I know the Lord put these words in my heart today to bless someone, so I hope it draws you closer to Him this week.

Oh, what wonders God beholds in our hearts when they are attune to Him. I am amazed at His goodness to us!

See you on Friday!

Hugs,

Laura McCollough