Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise -- Walter Chalmers Smith

 

He felt that an ancient apostle had said something that was crucial, and so Walter Chalmers Smith repeated what Paul had written centuries ago and described the Divine One in even more detail to underline the amazing depth of His nature. He is indeed “Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise”, such that when He was crucified, the sun’s rays were eclipsed for a time to mark the profound meaning of that moment (Matthew 27:45). (See the photo here that depicts, via the 1961 film Barabbas, the crucifixion darkness that the movie’s filmmakers tried to recapture by using the totality of the solar eclipse on February 15, 1961.) He is light (1 John 1:5), so how would we really appreciate that He is the source of this inestimable thing we take for granted, if it had remained unchanged while its Creator gave up His life? There are so many other characteristics of this God that Walter identified, that we cannot begin to fathom Him, though we could spend a lifetime trying to do so. Perhaps that is what Paul was up to when he wrote to a young protégé and concluded his opening address with this salutation to Him who is the focal point of all life. Don’t forget who is to remain in your sights at all times, Paul seems to say.

 

Walter Chalmers Smith was a pastor in the Church of Scotland for some 40 years, and was in mid-life (perhaps 43 years of age) in 1867 when these poetic lines of his were published. What exactly prompted Walter to write these lines is not known, though the first line of his lyrics strongly suggests that he was indeed reading what Paul had written to Timothy in the first century about life in ministry, and was himself on a difficult mission. Biblical scholars believe he was teaching Timothy that error was propagating in Ephesus, and that principles had to be accepted by the culture there, or it would descend into falsehoods that were anathema to the truth to which he and the other apostles had been devoted since Jesus commissioned them. Several times in the opening chapter of this personal letter to his ‘son’, he makes references to those who were riven with errors (1 Tim. 1:3-4; 6-11; 18-20), and that he (Timothy) needed to remember who God really is – immortal, invisible, the only God (1 Tim. 1:17). Walter got the message too, and said so many more things about this incredible God. Were six verses of poetry really enough? Walter may have answered ‘no’ emphatically, but nevertheless he said many mouthfuls in what he did include in the lines he penned. Every line in Walter’s creation contains something about the inscrutable One we too-often describe blithely as our friend. Yes indeed, that is what He is, certainly. But Walter, even at this point in his life, must have seen or heard people take Him too much for granted, in prayer and in life generally. Remember what Paul had been through by the time he wrote to Timothy in that first century (perhaps around 63-64 A.D.), and he still thought of himself humbly in comparison to God (1:13, 15-16) just before lauding Him with this song’s title words. This God is one we need to treat reverently in our approach to Him, before we do anything else. Above all else, Walter suggested with his lyrics that we should begin by seeing God in all His greatness.

 

No less than 11 times did Walter say something about trying to see God or the light that hides Him. So, it’s a bit of a vain exercise, is it not, to try to really see Him?  It seems like a fair question, one that perhaps Walter’s hearers must have asked him at least once. What’s the use, if I cannot get even a glimpse of Him? How do I worship someone I cannot see? Entering into the picture is Jesus, right on queue. He sure showed off His power, glory, might, compassion, wisdom, courage, and so many other qualities when He walked among the people for 33 years. And even if you and I weren’t there, we can still read history about Him and marvel at the church He created and the changed lives He’s inspired. And, then there’s that crucifixion thing, too, followed by the resurrection unlike any other event ever recorded in world history. Moses and others wanted to see Him, too, but were prevented from doing so. And then, even he and Elijah got a look at Jesus, along with Peter, James, and John (Matthew 17:2-8; Mark 9:2-13; Luke 9:28-36), and then they really got goosebumps. Wow!, they must have thought. If you want to see this God in all His fullness, consider that episode on a high mountain. He once described Himself as lowly (Matthew 11:29), and yet that’s part of the package of this awesome God-Man, too. All that is wrapped up inside this God, this amazing God that Walter wanted us to see.               

 

See more information on the song story in these sources: The Complete Book of Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs by William J. Petersen and Ardythe Petersen, Tyndale House Publishers, 2006; and Amazing Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications, 1990.

 

See here for all of the song’s original verses: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/i/i/g/o/iigowise.htm

 

See information on the photograph here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Barabba_Eclisse_1961.jpg ...This work is in the public domain in the United States because it meets three requirements: it was first published outside the United States (and not published in the U.S. within 30 days), it was first published before 1 March 1989 without copyright notice or before 1964 without copyright renewal or before the source country established copyright relations with the United States, and it was in the public domain in its home country on the URAA date (January 1, 1996 for most countries). It may be found inside this document -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_in_fiction

Made for More -- Blake Wiggins, Jessie Early, Jonathan Smith, Josh Baldwin

 

He’d just made a move, and he was searching. That’s what Josh Baldwin shared as he talked about “Made for More” after the song was released in 2024. He had several collaborators – Blake Wiggins, Jessie Early, and Jonathan Smith – so it wasn’t just Josh making up his own mind about how he himself was ‘made for more’; indeed, Josh and the others implicitly acknowledged that identity begins with the One who made us all. Josh had been part of Bethel Music based in Redding, California (see its seal here), which has been a collection of songwriters that may have played a role in the song’s development. So, when he moved across the country to Tennessee, he was evidently hunting for some ‘newness’. Fortunately, he found that this endeavor did not really take him in an opposite direction, but rather allowed him to step back from leading and reexamine the basics of his faith. What did his life mean for him personally? That’s what comes through in the words that Josh began, and which Blake, Jessie, and Jonathan helped focus and refine.

 

Josh said the song emerged during a songwriting session, so one can imagine the ideas that were shared back and forth in ‘Made for More’. He says the song felt pretty special right from the start, and actually helped him rethink what the theme of the album on which it appears should be. That tells us, who are searching like Josh was, that something pretty essential is contained within the songwriters’ collective thoughts when they finished their work. It’s said that these essentials captivated them through several scriptures – Romans 8, Isaiah 43:1, and Ephesians 2 – which ancient writers also used to communicate powerful, life-giving manna to their age, and now to ours. In short, one word helps sum up how they said we should feel: Alive! That’s what the ancients were saying poetically and otherwise. The Apostle Paul no doubt read what Isaiah had written what God told him: ‘Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.’ It must have dawned on the prophets, Jesus-followers like Paul, and these 21^st Century songwriters that God doesn’t redeem people to let them remain dead or to live a futile existence; He wants His chosen ones to be as alive as He is. Josh says this living message, that being ‘made for more’ helped strengthen his own son, and became like a personal anthem when he and his family were hunting for a new church in Tennessee. There were valleys and peaks, but they could count on the Creator-God to remain faithful. If you’re feeling hamstrung by your past mistakes, leave them in the dust, and as Josh and the others wrote in their lyrics, take heart, for ‘I have a future and it's worth the living’. Life is so much more than merely being born and then dying, so don’t ‘be tending a grave’, because that will only be a temporary stopping/resting point along the way.

 

Josh and company have so much more to say about being “Made for More”, and its message evokes an emotion that actually can transcend the human life experience. It will go beyond the grave, where none of us have yet been. And yet, Josh and the others say something else that’s interesting in one of their verses – ‘The cross of salvation was only the start’, implying that there’s so much more than looking out ahead to the finish line. Jesus did say ‘It is finished’ (John 19:30), so we all look to that seminal moment when Jesus accomplished the saving act for you and me. How Josh and his friends respond, though, is to say ‘we’re risen now’. If your day has a heavy rock that you feel like you’re dragging along behind you, let it go, and grab hold of what’s said in “Made…” -- I know I am Yours. Am, not will be someday. Right now.

 

 

Details of the song found here: https://www.google.com/search?q=made+for+more+song+story&aic=0&bih=825&biw=1459&sca_esv=ae1e161c6b0f2947&ei=kOx7ae6IHqjm5NoPoLqlmQo&ved=0ahUKEwjukL_z8rGSAxUoM1kFHSBdKaMQ4dUDCBE&uact=5&oq=made+for+more+song+story&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiGG1hZGUgZm9yIG1vcmUgc29uZyBzdG9yeTIGEAAYFhgeMgYQABgWGB4yBhAAGBYYHjIGEAAYFhgeMgsQABiABBiGAxiKBTIIEAAYgAQYogRI_HhQ9A9Y_HFwAXgBkAEAmAFSoAGsDaoBAjMxuAEDyAEA-AEBmAIboALVC8ICChAAGLADGNYEGEfCAgUQIRigAcICBRAAGO8FwgIGEAAYBxgewgIIEAAYBxgIGB7CAggQABgFGAcYHsICChAAGIAEGEMYigXCAg0QLhiABBixAxhDGIoFwgILEAAYgAQYkQIYigXCAgUQABiABMICChAuGIAEGEMYigXCAgUQLhiABMICFBAuGIAEGJcFGNwEGN4EGOAE2AEBwgIIEAAYogQYiQWYAwCIBgGQBge6BgYIARABGBSSBwIyN6AHzbABsgcCMja4B9MLwgcENi4yMcgHKIAIAA&sclient=gws-wiz-serp

See more comments about the song here: https://www.brightfm.com/shine/shine-daily/josh-baldwin-on-the-purpose-behind-made-for-more/ and here: https://worshipleader.com/worship-culture/made-for-more-josh-baldwin/

Read about one of the songwriters here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josh_Baldwin

Read about a songwriting venture here in which the principal songwriter has been involved: Bethel Music - Wikipedia

See information on the image of the Redding seal here: File:Seal of Redding, California.png - Wikimedia Commons. This work was created by a government unit (including state, county, city, and municipal government agencies) that derives its powers from the laws of the State of California and is subject to disclosure under the California Public Records Act (Government Code § 6250 et seq.). It is a public record that was not created by an agency which state law has allowed to claim copyright, and is therefore in the public domain in the United States. The image may be found inside this site: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redding,_California

Lord, You Have My Heart -- Martin Smith

 

The band Martin Smith formed was called Delirious – with a question mark (?) to emphasize something in the band members’ collective psyche, perhaps. But, there was no question mark in the song that Martin wrote for the group in 1993 in which he said confidently “Lord, You Have My Heart”. This Englishman (see the English flag here) had a pretty good idea of how he felt, and so he needed no other narrative to explain how the song’s development had occurred. Saying what Martin decided to actually put to music was just his way of underscoring his commitment. He’d probably read plenty of his bible to feel fellowship with other like-minded musicians who were his ancient ancestors, so why not join them in spirit by putting to music how he felt, as they must have when they decided to express their inner spirits in like manner? There’s a pretty sizeable group of believers who have done the same across the centuries; do you think they’ll inhabit a particular corner of Eternity, or instead be scattered amongst the rest of us, and only occasionally congregate to share with one another their musical gifts? Perhaps Martin was already thinking about what it will be like when he penned the last words of this devotion.

 

Martin was ready to offer himself completely in what he calls a personal journey in 1993. ‘Lord…’ was the first song that he and his fellow band members (they originally called themselves The Cutting Edge Band, after a recurring youth event which they supported) wrote, which says something about what the song might have meant to Martin and the others. Was it like an anthem for them, a mission statement of their purpose in forming and playing and singing songs? Martin does not say, but it apparently stuck with him, so that he and his daughter were singing it together many years later (see the story link below). ‘Search(ing) for His’ heart (the 2^nd line of the song) is evidently something that the Smith family has passed along to the next generation. Martin used some other words to characterize how he felt, like ‘sacrifice’, ‘lead me on’, and ‘praise’, some key things he would do as he looked around for the God whose ‘love (had) come down’ and ‘show(n) (His) face. But, maybe Martin wasn’t thinking only of the terrestrial moments to come in 1993. Seeing His ‘glory’ would be quite a revelatory sight, would it not? After all, even Moses, whom God called ‘friend’ (Exodus 33:11), was not permitted to see God face-to-face (Ex. 33:18-23). Seeing His glory face-to-face would have meant death…maybe it was just too much voltage for the human being to handle. Indeed, Moses’ face was so radiant after this meeting with God, that he frightened the Israelites who met him at the foot of the mountain. Nevertheless, Martin has not stopped his search, and he looks to his predecessors for life-giving sustenance of God, even if seeing Him in full-face isn’t yet possible. He says many passages – like Psalm 139:23-24, Psalm 27:8, and Romans 12:1-2 – have helped him dig roots and connect his own song’s words with biblical truths. We’ll actually get to see His glory, one day.

 

Martin and the rest of us can long to see Him, as we’re doing each time we sing and read what He tells us. That is what you and I can take away from what Martin Smith wrote in 1993. It never really stops, as long as we don’t snuff out that curiosity streak in us, and long to draw as close to Him as possible while here on earth. The promise that I will get to be with Him, to meet Him whose image I try to mimic, is the basic instinct for all of us who are human. Is there something in me that is like Him, that he found worthy of creating? There’s only one way to answer this. Just one way to find my roots.   

  

 

Read the story behind this song here: Lord You Have My Heart Lyrics - Martin Smith

 

Read about the author-composer here: Martin Smith (English musician) - Wikipedia

 

Read here re: the album (Cutting Edge 1) on which the song was premiered by the group Delirious? Cutting Edge (recordings) - Wikipedia

 

See information on the England flag here: File:Flag of England.svg - Wikipedia…This work has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder. This applies worldwide.