In 1918, Helen Lemmel came across a tract, “Focused: A Story and Song” penned by Isabella Lilias Trotter, a missionary to
Algeria. The words that moved Ms. Lemmel were,
“So, then, turn your eyes upon Him, look full into His face and
you will find that the things of earth will acquire a strange new dimness.”
Immediately after reading this, Helen sat down and wrote the words to this hymn. It wasn’t until 1922 that the song was published, but it has been a major staple in hymnology ever since. I was meditating on the message of this hymn and the application of its lesson to the Christ follower as we journey through this life on earth. The chorus as she finished it is,
“Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.”
If we are honest about it, we can all agree that sometimes life’s experiences can be less than stellar and sometimes downright challenging. We are faced with so many questions and sometimes doubts as we are confronted with circumstances that can at best be labeled adverse. As Westerners, and particularly Americans, we sometimes are tempted and drawn to grab our bootstraps and endeavor to solve or change what lies before us. I have even heard people say their issue is too small for God, so why bother Him. It is in those moments that we need to remember the words to this hymn.
This is not just an over the top super spiritual phrase that will soothe our religious feelings, but can be the source of strength as we fulfill our mission here on the earth as God’s kingdom emissaries. Instead of our first move being to investigate how we can fix whatever we perceive as needing to be fixed, maybe we should turn our attention away from that which causes us consternation. Of course, this isn’t promoting an “ostrich with his head in the sand” response to life’s circumstances, rather I think it encourages us to take our proverbial heads out of the ground and turn our focus on the One who has the words of life (John 6:68).
The Psalmist was faced with many trying situations in his life and so he developed a response for those times of stress and concern. (Psalm 121)
“I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?
My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.”
If He made heaven and earth, He can surely handle your crisis with power and wisdom. From the midst of what causes us to maybe lose sleep, we lift up our heads and look to the One from whom our help comes. Sure, there is always a response needed on our part in any adverse situation, but let our first move be to look up. God is the One who said through the prophet Isaiah, “…I am with you…I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will surely help you.” It is often in that moment of looking to the hills and remembering the words of Jesus when He promised, “I will be with you always,” that we receive revelation, wisdom, and insight regarding our next move in the situation. Our problem is we too often turn our attention to the source of our stress and forget about a willing and able God waiting to be a help to us. We forget that He is the One from which comes our help in time of trouble.
We are reminded of this as well by the writer of the Letter to the Hebrews. These words are some that we would do well to memorize and draw from on those occasions.
“…let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus,
the founder and perfecter of our faith…”
The words translated “looking to Jesus” are translated in different ways, including “fixing our eyes on Jesus,” and “keeping our eyes on Jesus.” The Amplified Bible comes the closest to the original language when it renders this line as “Looking away [from all that will distract] to Jesus.” The word used here by the author of Hebrews (no one really knows) carries with it the idea of “to turn the eyes away from other things and fix them on something.”
Thus, we turn our attention away from what concerns us (all that will distract) and focus on the One who is the very Captain and Architect of our faith in the Lord. We turn our eyes upon Jesus, and the things of this world that are causing that knot in our stomach, will in some strange way begin to grow dim. We are not pretending it does not exist, we are just not letting it be what is foremost in our attention. When you see something through eyes that are looking to the hills from where your help comes from and you have turned away from the adversity and are gazing on the Captain of your faith, perspective changes. What you are looking at often hasn’t changed, but your perception of it has changed. You see through the eyes of faith that are rooted in this Jesus who is for you and not against you.
So, what exactly are we seeing when we turn our eyes upon Jesus? Or, as the first verse of the song says,
“O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s light for a look at the Savior,
And life more abundant and free!”
What or who do we see when we turn away from the less than outstanding conditions of our lives?
When we turn our gaze to Jesus and consider Him as the founder of our faith, we see someone in whom we can place complete trust. We trust the Father and we trust Jesus. We live in a culture where it is sometimes difficult to find someone we can trust without reservation. Therefore we are conditioned to always “hold our cards close” and not allow ourselves to be put in a situation where we are transparent and vulnerable. We know God is bigger than any predicament we might find ourselves in and He is trustworthy to walk through our circumstances with us. We can trust God with the outcome of our life because He is the author of our life. The Father has an eternal investment in you and the life you enjoy, and so we can trust that wherever He leads us and whatever providential movements occur in our lives, He always has our best benefit in mind.
Many times we think that God has gone to sleep and He has forgotten about us or our need. David the psalmist had the same problem. Look at these words and see if you can relate. From Psalm 13
“O LORD, how long will You forget me? Forever?
How long will You look the other way?”
And from Psalm 44
“Wake up, O Lord! Why do You sleep? Get up!… Why do You look the other way?
Why do You ignore our suffering and oppression?”
The truth is He has neither gone to sleep nor forgotten about us. We can trust He is at work, even when we don’t see evidence of that. When we look to Jesus, we see a God who we can trust. Allow me to tell you this; if you can’t trust in God, you are already doomed, because there is no one left in whom you can trust. You may as well cast all your cares on Him, because He cares for you. (1 Peter 5)
When you turn your eyes upon Jesus and the things that concern you begin to grow dim, you will find yourself looking at the Alpha and the Omega. Four times in The Revelation, Jesus refers to Himself as the Alpha and the Omega; the beginning and the end. He is described as the One “who is and who was and who is to come.” Is – was – and is to come…I think you would agree this pretty much covers it all. I’ve heard it said of some people they have “been everywhere but the moon; seen everything but the wind; and done everything but die.” There is only One who can say they are the beginning and the end and everything in between. Why would that be important to us? Because whatever it is that concerns you is something that Jesus sees and has seen from an eternal perspective. He sees what it is that you cannot see. He sees the ramifications of your situation in a way that you cannot. To quote Melanie Elsey, the National Legislative Director for the American Policy Roundtable –
“God has His hand in this – He is already at the other end of the outcome.”
He is already at the end of YOUR outcome. Let’s turn our gaze upon the Alpha and the Omega who sees all and sees from a heavenly view and perspective, knowing that He is going to work all things together for the good of those who love God and who are called according to His purpose.
Finally, this God who we can trust and who sees from the beginning to the end and back to the beginning again, can relate to our human struggles, as He experienced 33 plus years of life as a human being. Again the writer of Hebrews tell us,
“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses,
but One who has been tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin.”
We see One who has experienced everything we have faced. Our High Priest understands our weaknesses, for He faced all of the same testings we do, yet He did not sin. He knows what you are going through. He can feel the emotion of the moment as you are faced with that news, diagnosis, or troubling report. This is why the very next verse encourages us to “come with confidence into His very Presence.”
I am reminded of when Jesus received the report that His close friend, Lazarus, was sick. His disciples must have been puzzled when He decided to wait two days before traveling to Bethany. They were even more amazed when He told them it was time to travel to Judea. They reminded Him (He had not forgotten) “the Jews tried to stone You, and You’re going there again?” I’m sure some of their thinking was that if He went, they would have to go with Him. Mr. Positive, Thomas the twin, spoke up and proclaimed,
“Let’s go so that we, too, can die with Jesus.”
Maybe a little sarcastic; maybe a little defeatist; but recognizing that Jesus’ fate may very well be their fate.
They did travel to Bethany and Jesus did receive a mild reprimand from Martha, because now Lazarus had died. Upon seeing the grief upon Martha (and by this time, Mary had arrived), we read the shortest verse in the 66 books of the Bible (remembering when the Bible was first written, there were no chapter or verse divisions), “Jesus wept.” Why was Jesus weeping? The apostle Paul writes in Romans 12 that we should “weep with those who weep.” He was expressing the very heart of Jesus, because in this moment, Jesus was weeping along with Mary and Martha in their grief. He still has that ability to feel the emotions of what it is you are going through (operatives words there – going through) and He will respond accordingly. He may not raise your Lazarus from the dead, but what He does next (or doesn’t do) will be based on His perspective of the situation and motivated by what He experienced while a human being.
So, you see, there are a myriad of reasons that we should turn our eyes on Jesus and look full into His wonderful face. Then the things of this world that are disconcerting to you will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace. Remember, challenges and problems? Turn your gaze to Him.
We will conclude with the final verse of this great, old hymn. It reminds us of our mission, so that we don’t allow the trials of life to derail or divert us away from being members of a heavenly colony on earth, sharing the good news of that kingdom and it’s King!
His Word shall not fail you—He promised;
Believe Him, and all will be well:
Then go to a world that is dying,
His perfect salvation to tell!