Recommendations

The first verse asks the Spirit to lift our eyes to Jesus, to help us see how all the Bible points to him. As a preacher, I want my congregation to have an Emmaus road experience every Sunday, so that our hearts “burn within us” when we see in all the Scriptures Jesus, the “Hero of our great redemption.” “Clouds of sin and sorrow” blind us from his beauty, and so we pray that the Spirit would open our eyes, so we can see him and sing his praises.

Verse 2 asks the Spirit to lift our hearts to Jesus. Here, we pray that the Spirit would engage our emotions and affections until we find our full satisfaction in him. First, we see Jesus in the Word (verse 1), and now we pray for God to energize our hearts, so that he becomes our “sole delight.” Too often our hearts are cold. That’s why we need God’s kindness to overwhelm us, his gospel to wake us up from worldly slumbers, and set “set our souls ablaze.” Verse 2 alludes to the Lord’s Table, with Jesus as the “ever-living bread from heaven” who satisfies “hungry beggars.” Liturgically minded worship leaders will notice my nod to the sursum corda here, where we lift up our hearts to the Lord and pray we “taste his goodness.”

Verse 3 is all about mission. After we’ve prayed the Spirit would lift our eyes to see Jesus in the Word, and lift our hearts to taste his goodness, we pray the Spirit would lift our hands to the Lord in service. True Christianity engages our heads, our hearts, and our hands. When the worship service concludes, our service as God’s people is just beginning. Throughout the week, we need the Spirit’s “strength to do his will” from a heart of “true compassion.” It is not the command of the Lord that breaks down “our hearts’ resistance” to obedience; it is the “beauty of his scars” that frees us “for love and service” and replaces our self-centeredness with the love of Jesus.