I came across this reinterpretation of ‘Be Thou My Vision’ while listening to the Spotify playlist ‘Hymns for Hipsters’.

Rend Collective’s version is addictive. I’m also in awe of the fact that they didn’t omit verse three. Of which, the more modernised versions seem to generally leave out.

Be thou my breastplate, my sword for the fight;
Be thou my whole armour, be thou my true might;
Be thou my soul’s shelter, be thou my strong tower:
O raise thou me heavenward, great Power of my power.

Phrasing like:

Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Can remind us that ‘negativity wastes life, that sin drains us of our strength’, so we are to ‘seek God first, and his righteousness. Because He is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble[i]

I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son.

That, ‘all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For we did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but have received the Spirit of adoption, as sons and daughters, by whom we cry, “Abba Father”[ii]

Be thou my battle-shield, sword for the fight.
Be Thou my Dignity, Thou my Delight;
Thou my soul’s Shelter, Thou my high Tower:

That, ‘a person’s life does not consist in the abundance of their possessions’[iii]; we are more than what we own,  and we are not what forces outside of God try to define us as[iv]. The temporary power of the world is a borrowed one; ‘these powers are confronted by the ultimate word already spoken.[v]’

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
Thou mine Inheritance, now and always.

That, we are called to ‘live wisely in evil (extreme?) days[vi], not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man’[vii]

 High King of Heaven, my victory won.

Finally, the words of this hymn can remind us that, the ‘Bible is not the telling of a dream, something viewed only as transcendent (beyond us), without relevance or connection to actual reality…Because in spite of all appearances[viii].

Scripture is victorious over the world because it attests to the light of Jesus the Christ. Victor![ix]

(h/t Jenny, from DelightfulOak.com for introducing us to the phenomenon that is Spotify)

Source:

[i] Psalm 31:10 (NLT); Matthew 6:33-34 (ESV); Psalm 46 (ESV);
[ii] Romans 8:15 (ESV)
[iii] Luke 12:15 (ESV)
[iv] James Cone, ‘God of the oppressed’.
[v] Barth, K. 1938 C.D I/II Hendrickson Publishers p.677
[vi] Ephesians 5:15-16 (ESV)
[vii] Ephesians 6:6-7 (ESV)
[viii] Barth, K. Ibid, p.678
[ix] Barth, K. Ibid, pp.676 & 679
[x] Barth, K. Ibid, p.676
{Full lyrics: Be Thou My Vision}