Searching Sight
Searching Sight
"I love old hymns. They carry this kind of authority, and yet there’s still so much humanity and vulnerability in them. Sometimes I have a hard time connecting to the boundless positivity in modern worship music, but these old hymns often resonate deeply with the “dark and light” duality that exists within me. Like so many old hymns, the lyric to “O Thou To Whose All Searching Sight” is an absolute gem. More than just a narrative or emotional expression, this song carries some real theological weight – our frailty, our sin, seen in stark contrast to his might, his holiness, wrapped in a beautiful vow of both our dependence and our commitment. For whatever reason, though, it’s not one that I hear a lot in church, and it doesn’t seem to have a place in the “canon” of hymns that we reference in this era. So I wanted to give it a fresh melody, while still maintaining a stately formality that would fit the brilliance of the lyric. The result, for me, is a song that voices a universal human cry of faith and submission in the face of a holy God." (Paul Duncan)
SEARCHING SIGHT
Written by Paul Duncan (ASCAP), Nikolaus von Zinzendorf (PD), John Wesley (PD)
© 2015 Common Hymnal Publishing (ASCAP), Annie and Clyde Music (ASCAP) (admin by IntegratedRights.com). CCLI 7061278.
VERSE 1
O thou, to whose all searching sight
The darkness shineth as the light
Search, prove my heart, it pants for thee
O burst these bonds and set it free
VERSE 2
Wash out its stains, refine its dross
Nail my affections to the cross
Hallow each thought, let all within
Be clean as thou, my Lord, art clean
CHORUS
If in this dark-some wild I stray
Be thou my light, be thou my way
No foes, no violence I fear
No harm while thou, my God, are near
When rising floods my soul o’erthrow
When sinks my heart in waves of woe
Jesu, thy timely aid impart
And lift my head and cheer my heart
VERSE 3
Savior, where'er thy steps I see
Dauntless, untired, I follow thee
O let thy hand support me still
And lead me to thy holy hill
VERSE 4
If rough and thorny be the way
My strength proportion to my day
Till toil and grief and pain shall cease
Where all is calm and joy and peace