This hymn began in the Irish monastic tradition over a thousand years ago as an ancient prayer of protection. It has been prayed by believers across the centuries, and when it was finally set to its familiar tune in 1919, it became one of the most beloved hymns in the Christian church. There is a reason it has lasted.
Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart. Naught be all else to me, save that thou art.
Everything else in the hymn flows from those two lines. The singer is asking God to become the lens through which he sees his work, his relationships, his circumstances, his future. Everything. Not one of many things he values. The only thing that matters. Everything else measured against Him.
That is a demanding prayer to pray honestly. Most of us have a vision, but it is divided. We see God and we see our finances. We see God and we see what other people think of us. We see God and we see our plans for the future. The hymn is not interested in a divided vision. It asks for a singular one.
The fourth verse makes this explicit.
Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise. Thou mine inheritance, now and always. Thou and thou only, first in my heart. High King of heaven, my treasure thou art.
Money and the opinion of other people. Those are the two things the hymn names as competitors to a clear vision of God. Jesus named the same two things. You cannot serve God and money. And He warned against doing your righteousness before men to be seen by them. The hymn is simply agreeing with what Jesus already said — that the heart’s vision is always contested, and that the only answer is to ask God to hold first place and mean it.
The prayer is not asking for willpower or resolving to do better. It is asking God Himself to be the vision, to take the place in the heart that He alone can fill. That is an important distinction. We do not fix a divided vision by trying harder. We fix it by returning again and again to Christ — to who He is, what He has done, and what He is worth.
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall. Still be my vision, O Ruler of all.
Whatever befall. In good seasons and hard ones. When the riches come and when they don’t. When the praise comes and when it doesn’t. The prayer does not ask God to make life easier. It asks Him to remain the vision regardless of what life brings.
That is worth praying today. Slowly. And meaning it.