Have an eye-opener from God’s Word!

“Eye-opener: An enlightening or surprising circumstance.” In the hymn book of the first three churches I pastored was a hymn by Clara Scott (1841-1897), “Open my eyes that I might see.” You might even sing it in your church. A music teacher at a ladies’ college, she is said to have been inspired by Psalm 119:18, “Open my eyes that I might behold wondrous things out of thy law.”

This hymn, written in 1895, is the only one of her hymns to become popular in evangelical churches. Clara Scott was associated with the metaphysical, “new thought” cults (no salvation required), and the Unity movement has several of her lyrics in their Unity Song Selections (1975) and Wings of Song (1984). Many publishers would not have reprinted her hymn if they had known her background, which becomes obvious in her book Truth in Song for Lovers of Truth and in other hymns she wrote. Anyway, here’s the first verse and chorus:

Open my eyes, that I may see
Glimpses of truth Thou hast for me;
Place in my hands the wonderful key
That shall unclasp and set me free.

Silently now I wait for Thee,
Ready my God, Thy will to see,
Open my eyes, illumine me,
Spirit divine!

We now know that the “wonderful key” is already in our hands — it is the Word of God! I thought of this hymn as I was reading yet another new paraphrase from Ephesians 1:18-19, the New Testament equivalent of Psalm 119:18. “The Mirror Translation” (not yet complete) reads, “I pray that your thoughts will be flooded with light and revelation knowledge; that you will clearly picture His intent in identifying you in Him so that you may know how precious you are to Him. The saints are His treasure and the glorious trophy of His portion! (We are God’s assets and the measure of His wealth!) 1:19 I pray that you will understand beyond all comparison the magnitude of His power towards us who believe.

The King James Version of verse 18 reads, “the eyes of your understanding being enlightened.” The Amplified Bible renders it, “By having the eyes of your heart flooded with light…” and the Good News Bible reads, “I ask that your minds may be opened to see his light…” Here’s the eye-opener! Three truths Paul wanted the believers to know: “what is the hope of his calling”, “what (is) the riches of the glory of his inheritance”, and “what is the exceeding greatness of his power.” Underline the word “what” in your Bible so these three important threads of truth jump out at you as you read the page.

Do you know the expectation [hope] of His calling? If you read verses 3 to 17 you will see it: that the body of believers might develop to their full potential (see also Ephesians 4:13). Do you know the glorious riches of your inheritance? “Let’s celebrate God! Every spiritual blessing in heavenly places has found its definition in the fact that we are in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3 Mirror). Do you know the exceeding greatness of his power? Read verses 20-21, notice “according to”.

Soak yourself in these three truths. Search the Word, especially the epistles to the churches, and get further insight. For a more detailed discussion, see pages 39-44 of my book “I’m Excited About Ephesians.” Read the articles on our site by Ruth Paxson on The Wealth, Walk, and Warfare of the Christian. Have your own eye-opener experience as to who you really are! — Peter Wade