Do you happen to have a favorite song that the lyrics just speak to you, no matter what version or style that it happens to be performed in? Keep considering that song and I’d be truly delighted if you shared the title in the comments below or chose to share it with me personally in some other way. But before I share more about a song that touches the inner depths of my heart, I want to offer a confession. Once I hear an original song via the radio or in a worship service, I typically only want to hear it performed in that same style. This hangup is one of the reasons I characteristically don’t enjoy concerts or live music as much, (along with the fact that they are usually too loud for my sensitive ears). However, there is one song, a hymn, where I have purchased multiple performances of it, enjoying the style of various artists, and it is entitled Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus.

If you’ve read previous posts like Lifelines, you know that song lyrics can bring comfort or reassurance to me. I don’t consider myself one who listens to a great deal of music because it frequently distracts my mind from conversations, work, or reading, but when I am driving alone, this sometimes serves as an excellent opportunity to enjoy music. On a recent drive out to Camp Knifley, I chose to fill the Jeep with some recently downloaded music by Stephen McWhirter, one of those song titles was Turn My Eyes. Not knowing the title before it played, upon hearing the first chords and lyrics, I smiled in expectation of hearing that favorite hymn, Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus.

But the familiar lyrics did not pour out of the speakers as anticipated after the beginning phrase, instead McWhirter sang Turn my eyes to You, Jesus/Look full in Your wonderful face. Perhaps it may seem a subtle distinction for others, but for me, it was an impactful transformation. Instead of singing that others needed to move their gaze from this world and look to Jesus, which isn’t too challenging to sing because it’s easy for me to see how everyone else needs to turn to Jesus. But, oh my friend, I was singing that I needed to turn my eyes to Yeshua. That’s a whole different story!

Oh soul, are you weary and troubled? Yes, indeed I am. Do you really want a life that is abundant and free? Well, yes, I do—I’m studying flourishing after all, which can be at times a synonym for abundance. But then the kicker—I wanna see your face. Do I really, really want to see the face of my Savior and Lord? Because if my answer is an authentic yes, that means I truly have to come to the End of Me and to Sincerely Abandon all the obstacles that I have placed between me and Jesus. And I really like some of these impediments, they are sometimes genuinely good things to have in my life, but if they prevent me from looking into the face of Jesus and seeing His love, then I need to Let It Go.

Personally, Surrender Not Answer is not my modus operandi. My “habit of working” is searching all the data and information for a specific answer. Yet, right now, I am being asked to surrender it all—many, many things so that I can see my Smiling Jesus, I can look full into His wonderful face and receive all the many blessings that offers. These songs, these lyrics are asking me to Repent and Stop—to posture my heart in a way that truly surrenders so that when I Turn My Eyes towards Him, I do not experience an Obstructed View. And just so you know, it is not easy! It is extremely difficult, but I know deep in my heart that it is worth that surrender. Lord Jesus, please Turn My Eyes to you, so that you are my main focus and that through my God-Given Space, others will see you.

Reference:

McWhirter, S. (2021). Turn my eyes (See your face) [Song]. On Hymns Session [Album]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3aLpXLM3bg