One of my favorite YouTube videos is of a ten year old, blind, autistic boy singing the song Open the Eyes of My Heart, Lord. The request of the song writer, and hopefully of the singer, is that he might see God in the glory of His holiness. That is my desire. I cannot say that I am perfect in that desire but it is still my desire. I could want nothing more than that. There could be no greater experience than to see God as He is, to behold His glory.
The psalmist wrote, "Open my eyes, that I may behold Wonderful things from Your law" (Psalm 119:18). Until such a time when we will literally see God in eternity we may yet behold Him in His law, His word. For in it is the expression of Himself. He even went so far as to say, "I will bow down toward Your holy temple And give thanks to Your name for Your lovingkindness and Your truth; For You have magnified Your word according to all Your name (Psalm 138:2). The King James Version translates it, "thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name." Either way we see His word is His presence verbally and the means by which we are able to "see" Him. The word name refers to the person himself. When we hear a person's name we do not think of the sound or spelling of the word but of the person it represents. We think of his character and respond emotionally and volitionally to that thought. So it is with the word of God. It characterizes Him to us. In His word we see Him more fully than we could otherwise, until that glorious day when we will meet Him face to face.
We are exhorted to "Ascribe to the LORD the glory due to His name; Worship the LORD in holy array", or, "the beauty of holiness" [KJV] (Psalm 29:2). Also, "Sing praise to the LORD, you His godly ones, And give thanks to His holy name (Psalm 30:4), "For our heart rejoices in Him, Because we trust in His holy name (Psalm 33:21). "O magnify the LORD with me, And let us exalt His name together" (Psalm 34:3), "Sing the glory of His name; Make His praise glorious" (Psalm 66:2). And the only ones who can truly rejoice in Him are His people. So, "I will tell of Your name to my brethren; In the midst of the assembly I will praise You" (Psalm 22:22). By these Psalms I am reminded of the last stanza of the hymn "I Love to Tell the Story":
I love to tell the story;
For those who know it best
Seem hungering and thirsting
To hear it, like the rest:
And when, in scenes of glory,
I sing the new, new song,
’Twill be the old, old story
That I have loved so long
ending with the chorus,
I love to tell the story,
’Twill be my theme in glory
To tell the old, old story
Of Jesus and his love.
But all of this is because of the first stanza,
I love to tell the story
Of unseen things above,
Of Jesus and his glory,
Of Jesus and his love:
I love to tell the story
Because I know ’tis true;
It satisfies my longing
As nothing else can do.
"It satisfies my longing as nothing else can do." That's the key to it all. The story we long to tell, even to "those who know it best," is the story of the Person of God in Christ Jesus. He is all our joy and satisfaction.
Unless otherwise stated all Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible Update. Copyright ©1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
