Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart,
Naught is all else to me, save that Thou art,
This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them.” (Heb. 10:16)
God’s Law—bestowed upon the believer’s heart by God, engraved in his mind by God. The Word of God, written symbols in the Book that points the way to hope in a despairing world, Living Words the roadmap to new birth, pages the guide for a living faith, and ancient events the light on the path for this day. Though grass wither and flower fade, the Word of God will stand forever. Heaven and earth will pass away, but God’s Words will not pass away. To the lost, merely an ancient history book like any other—lifeless, antiquated, and boring. To the believer, the inspired living, God-breathed Word of God (2 Tim. 3:16), sharp and powerful, piercing soul and spirit; understood and guided by the spirit, infusing heart and mind with life.
‘Heart’, mentioned 800+ times in the Bible, yet it never once refers to our physical heart. But God, in His great Wisdom, provides the physical to explain the spiritual. Our physical heart, central to our physical life, circulating blood throughout our body. So it is with our figurative heart, center of our spiritual life, circulating God’s Law within our being. God’s Law: the core of our being, the center of our affections, the reason for our hope. Our thoughts, passions, desires, appetites, affections, purposes, and endeavors bound up in our hearts. It is in our hearts and minds that we lay things up, we take things in, we conceive, we ponder, we believe, we doubt, we think, we set our will, and consider ourselves. The fruit of our heart is evidenced by our actions and our words. When God is at the center of our being, He is our vision, He is our reason for living, He becomes our all-consuming desire.
Does happiness tend to evade you? Are you discontent, always learning but never coming to the truth? Is it possible that you will not agree that Christ would be your all in all? Have you treasured the Words of His mouth more than food? You are clean because of the inspired Word that has power to cleanse you. You are blessed because you hear—and keep—the Word of God. Have you, along with Jeremiah (15:16) eaten His Words and found them to be a joy and the delight of your heart? Have you stored up God’s Word in your heart, that you might not sin against Him? Let the words of this hymn be your prayer today, “Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart, naught is all else to me, save that Thou art.”