This week, as the news continues to be disturbing, the lines of an old hymn keep playing in my mind, “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus.”
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Helen Lemmel (1922)
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.
I did some research to find the story behind the hymn. The story involves two women who are Christ-followers and focused on walking in step with their Savior.
Isabella Trotter
The story starts with a woman, Isabella Lilias Trotter, who left her life of wealth and artistry to become a missionary in North Africa. There, learning Arabic, she lived a life of service and witness to the Algerian people. In 1901, she wrote an essay entitled Focused. The essay was eventually published in a pamphlet and distributed widely. In her essay, Trotter calls on the artistry and beauty of the dandelion, the yellow face lifted to the sun, and makes connections between currents and waves gathered into focus that serve to bring sound and light. She shifts from science to the spiritual world – challenging her readers to focus on God, channeling the Spirit’s power in their lives (Renovaré, 2023).
And in the narrowing and focusing, the channel will be prepared for God’s power — like the stream hemmed between the rock-beds, that wells up in a spring — like the burning glass that gathers the rays into an intensity that will kindle fire. It is worthwhile to let God see what He can do with these lives of ours, when “to live is Christ.”
How do we bring things to a focus in the world of optics?
Not by looking at the things to be dropped,
but by looking at the one point that is to be brought out.Turn full your soul’s vision to Jesus, and look and look at Him,
Isabella Lilias Trotter, “Focused” (1901)
and a strange dimness will come over all that is apart from Him,
and the Divine “attrait” by which God’s saints are made,
even in this 20th century, will lay hold of you.
For “He is worthy” to have all there is to be had in the heart that He has died to win.
Helen Lemmel
Helen Lemmel was a singer who traveled widely in the early 1900s, giving concerts in churches. She also taught voice at the Moody Bible Institute. A talented writer, she is credited with publishing some 500 poems and hymns. It is also said that a short while after being married, she lost her sight due to an illness. Her husband, not wanting to care for a blind woman, left her. Still, Helen chose to live a life of service to God.
A friend read Trotter’s essay, “Focused,” to Lemmel. One sentence in particular caught her attention.
“Turn full your soul’s vision to Jesus, and look and look at Him, and a strange dimness will come over all that is apart from Him.”
The Spirit of God used that sentence to move Lemmel to write the words we sing today.
Turn Your Eyes
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!
The first stanza is very relevant today. Watching the news makes it easy to feel weary and troubled. It seems like there’s no end to the darkness, and there’s more trouble ahead. And yet, Lemmel reminds us that the Kingdom of God is here – an abundant life is promised to those who have faith in God.
We Remember His Goodness
Thro’ death into life everlasting,
He passed, and we follow Him there;
O’er us sin no more hath dominion–
For more than conqu’rors we are!
We must preach the gospel to ourselves amid our current darkness, toil, and trouble. The scripture speaks of remembering often.
I will remember the works of the Lord.
Psalm 77:11 NET
Yes, I will remember the amazing things you did long ago.
We remember how God delivered His people, fulfilled every promise, and made way for us to enter His presence; we have a promise of eternity. Chosen, redeemed, and adopted into the heavenly family, we are raised with Christ, seated with Him, and we are told we are His poetic artistry. Last, because Christ is the victor, the conqueror over sin and death, we too, are more than conquerors through Him who loves us. While the news may disturb, the truth fills us to hope overflowing!
Sharing the Good News
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!
And so we share this good news! I think about the night of Jesus’ birth and the magnificent announcement made to the shepherds. They were resting on the hillside, and I can imagine they were talking among themselves about the news of their day. Maybe they had been complaining about the crowds arriving in Bethlehem, the government requiring a census, and the possibility of updated taxes. They may have been discussing the Roman rule over their little town, the unfairness, and their worries for their children. But in the middle of their conversations, God brings the best, truly good news to all – the very definition of the word gospel!
God’s word has not, will not fail. We can trust God’s goodness, righteousness, and justice completely. The circumstances of our lives, the news, and the realities it might bring are finite. Our God is infinite – the God of eternity. Trotter, missionary in a difficult land, and Lemmel, blind, could see with spiritual eyes how significant this truth is – that we must focus our attention on His wonderful face, and let Him channel the Spirit in and through us to accomplish His purposes.
Today, I choose to live with eternity in view.
Renovaré. (2023). Focused – Lilias Trotter. Renovaré.
https://renovare.org/articles/focused#
Turn Your Eyes upon Jesus. (n.d.). Hymnary.org. https://hymnary.org/text/o_soul_are_you_weary_and_troubled
