We Have Not Known Thee As We Ought

We have not known Thee as we ought,
Nor learn'd Thy wisdom, grace and power
The things of earth have fill'd our thought,
And trifles of the passing hour.
LORD, give us light Thy truth to see,
And make us wise in knowing Thee.


We have not fear'd Thee as we ought,
Nor bow'd beneath Thine aweful eye,
Nor guarded deed, and word, and thought,
Remembering that GOD was nigh.
LORD, give us faith to know Thee near,
And grant the grace of holy fear.


We have not loved Thee as we ought,
Nor cared that we are loved by Thee;
Thy presence we have coldly sought,
And feebly long'd Thy Face to see.
Lord, give a pure and loving heart
To feel and own the love Thou art.


We have not served Thee as we ought,
Alas! the duties left undone - 
The work with little fervour wrought -
The battles lost, or scarcely won!
Lord, give the zeal, and give the might,
For Thee to toil, for Thee to fight.


When shall we know Thee as we ought,
And fear, and love, and serve aright!
When shall we out of trial brought
Be perfect in the land of light!
LORD, may we day by day prepare
To see Thy Face, and serve Thee there.


We live in troubling days - I don't simply mean the thunder clouds of financial doom and gloom, the depressing and heartbreaking realities of war and unrest around the world - we live in days where 'I' has become the most important word in life.


The ipod and iphone and itunes capture the mood of this generation.  We are obsessed with what we want, with ourselves, our self-empowerment, and the choices and opportunities that are presented us each one of us.  Church is all too often pandering to the i-feed culture of satisfaction.  The hymn above challenges us to look again at our obsession with ourselves.


It is first in the plural, the communal, the 'we' of an all inclusive self-critique. Secondly it's standard for weighing up how we are doing is not self-satisfaction but rather the perfection that awaits the people of God in his presence of The Future promised in Jesus: the standard is God Himself.


We are God's people and do we not need a healthy shot in the arm (and kick up the... erm... bum) that will awaken us to the reality that God is not the centre of OUR universe rather it is HIS universe in which our chief purpose is to give Him praise and glory due to Him.  


We will always, this side of eternity, be too weak, too feeble, too selfish, too much ourselves to fear, to love and serve  Him as we ought; but we may do so in ways that anticipate the Day of perfection! 


"...It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son..." Revelation 20:6-7