True Delight

Thou lovely Source of true delight,
Whom I unseen adore;
Unveil Thy beauties to my sight,
That I may love Thee more. 

Thy glory o’er creation shines;
But in Thy sacred Word,
I read in fairer, brighter lines,
My bleeding, dying Lord. 

’Tis here, whene’er my comforts droop,
And sins and sorrows rise,
Thy love with cheerful beams of hope,
My fainting heart supplies. 

Jesus, my Lord, my Life, my Light,
O come with blissful ray;
Break radiant through the shades of night,
And chase my fears away. 

Then shall my soul with rapture trace
The wonders of Thy love;
But the full glories of Thy face
Are only known above.

—Anne Steele

A few things:

1. If you aren't naturally a happy-go-lucky person in most of life, reading Anne Steele's hymns and poems will probably help you see Jesus and bring your pains to Him. They helped me.

2. Love of Jesus should be the only motive for the Christian's obedience. All other motives are faulty and miss the mark. The Christian life is wrapped up in Divine Love for a reason.

3. Reread the second stanza. We rightly ascertain God's glory in the realm of creation (Psalm 19:1-2), but there is a higher realm where we comprehend and see God - his Word - i.e. the Living Word, Jesus, and the written word, the Bible, of which we receive Spirit-wrought revelation. The "sacred Word" alone contains the "fairer brighter lines" that speak of the Word of God, who was with God and who is God.

4. It is ok to pray and sing to God in the midst of pain. I would think that if we are not bringing our pains in our personal and corporate communion with God, we are betraying the reality of sin and suffering in the normal Christian life. Sing your sorrows and live in reality. An overhyped spirituality of dominant victory in Christian living betrays reality. As Matt Chandler wisely said once, "It's ok to not be ok, but it's not ok to stay that way."

5. One day, soon, we will see the "full glories of Thy face". Let that fuel hope.

6. Go listen to a great version of this hymn by Indelible Grace here and buy the album. You can thank me later.