Praying While We Sing

1) Immortal invisible, God only wise, 
In light inaccessible hid from our eyes,
Most blessed, most glorious the Ancient of Days
Almighty victorious they great Name we praise.

2) 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

3) 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.

4) 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 penned by Walter Chalmers Smith (1824-1908), a pastor of the Free Church of Scotland.  He also happened to be a poet. Actually he was much more of a poet than a hymnist.  He was more than a dabbler when it came to writing.  After reading through this hymn a few times, I would like to read some of his other works.  Still, this hymn is probably his most famous work.  The tune is called "St. Denio," which is Welsh.   Unfortunately, that's about all I can find on the tune at the moment.  It's a good tune that's fun to hum.

The hardest part of the Lord's prayer for me is "Hallowed be Thy Name."  It isn't that I don't get the purpose, but when I pray, I have a tendency to rush to the parts where I get to say what I want.  I want to get to the supplication.  I want to tell God what I need.  I want to make sure I am taken care of. This hymn has no rush in getting to it's purpose.  It's the exact opposite of me. This hymn focuses on who the Lord is.  It's just hallowing His name. It isn't what Jesus has done for us, it isn't about how God loved us, it's running through the many names of the Lord. The purpose of "Immortal, Invisible, God only Wise," is a request, but the request is not so urgent that Walter Chalmers Smith doesn't take time to bestow honor upon the Lord and honor His name.

There is a request in this hymn.  If you blink, you miss it. I've missed it for a very long time. The fourth stanza makes the request, "All laud we would render: O help us to see. / 'Tis only the splendour of light hideth thee"  This hymn is praying that we may understand Scripture.  Erik Routley states, "... a closer look at it in its fuller form shows that it was by no means designed to be one of those general hymns of praise that the parson slams into the praise-list when he is in too much of a hurry to think of anything else but a hymn about the reading of Scripture."  As Routley indicates,  Smith's purpose is made clearer in the original writing of the hymn whose fourth and fifth stanzas sing,

4) 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.

5) 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.

The Gospel is the greatest story.  It changes lives and redeems souls.  However, we need the Father of light to take the darkness away from our hearts in order to see this marvelous love. With this hymn, we sing that the Lord do just that.  First, by praising Him then by making the request that we know God's revealed will.  There is a lot of beauty in this hymn and I'm sad the Trinity Hymnal trims it down to just three stanzas (1,2, & 4).  I would never preach from it, but I would certainly pray it before going to the pulpit.