This past Sunday we opened our service by singing the hymn “Immortal Invisible God Only Wise”. This is one of those hymns that deserves a closer reading of the text with the statements about God’s character that are contained and the praise that ensues. Here is the text that we sung this last Sunday.
Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
In light inaccessible hid from our eyes,
Most blessèd, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
Almighty, victorious, thy great Name we praise.
Unresting, unhasting, and silent as light,
Nor wanting, nor wasting, thou rulest in might;
Thy justice like mountains high soaring above
Thy clouds which are fountains of goodness and love.
To all life thou givest—to both great and small;
In all life thou livest, the true life of all;
We blossom and flourish as leaves on the tree,
And wither and perish—but naught changeth thee.
Great Father of glory, pure Father of light,
Thine angels adore thee, all veiling their sight;
All laud we would render: O help us to see
’Tis only the splendour of light hideth thee.
This hymn was written by Walter Chalmers Smith. The last stanza of this hymn is actually a combination of the original last 2 stanzas. Here is the original text of the last 2 stanzas.
Great Father of glory, pure Father of light,
Thine angels adore Thee, all veiling their sight;
But of all Thy rich graces this grace, Lord, impart
Take the veil from our faces, the vile from our heart.
All laud we would render; O help us to see
’Tis only the splendor of light hideth Thee,
And so let Thy glory, Almighty, impart,
Through Christ in His story, Thy Christ to the heart.
I appreciate the original authors understanding and inclusion of the fact that apart from His sovereign grace we are unable to praise Him in all of His magnificence but we need His grace that only comes through Jesus to unveil our faces and remove the vile from our hearts.
Here is also a modern rendition of this hymn that I personally enjoyed. You can listen to it for free on spotify.
Link to song.
Link to spotify if you do not have it.
