Analyze a Song

Some time ago our choir was practicing a contemporary song entitled, “To Know Him.”  Like many contemporay songs, we liked it — but realized the words needed some reworking.

The words to the chorus went as follows.

To know Him / It is the life He calls me to

Just to know Him / To only hunger for His truth

Until we see with unveiled faces / all that life can be

And follow in His presence / Where the journey leads

Oh, I want to know Him

The writers of this song had an admirable objective: to exhort believers to a deeper, more intimate knowledge of our dear Lord Jesus through His word. But ironically, the writers themselves lacked knowledge when penning this chorus.

Have you figured out what the problem is? If you guessed that it’s the line “Until we see with unveiled faces” you’re right. The line is clearly a reference to 2 Corinthians 3.18,

“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord,

are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory,

just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

In context, the apostle Paul is comparing the “veil” that blinds unbelieving Israel today with the “unveiled” eyes of those who have turned to Christ. Hence, the songwriters inadvertently entered into a fairly serious doctrinal error: the word "until" suggests that the veil will be lifted for believers at a future time. But in truth, Paul is stating that the veil was lifted the moment we believed! At that very instant, the Word of God became understandable to us and began “transforming us.” Hallelujah!

We suspected that what the well-meaning writers were trying to convey is that many of the hidden mysteries of God and His will for our lives will not be understood until we’re with the Lord face-to-face. This is along the lines of 1 Corinthians 13.12,

“For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face:

now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.”

So to correct this, we changed the lyrics of the song to the following:

To know Him / It is the life He calls me to

Just to know Him / To only hunger for His truth

For now we see through a glass darkly / all that life can be

And follow in His presence / Where the journey leads

Oh, I want to know Him

Such analyses may seem nitpicky, but we must never forget who God is. The psalmist exhorts us in Psalm 47.7 to “Sing praises with understanding.” Christ is the silent listener and invisible observer of all we do. He takes His word seriously and — in fear and trembling — so do we!

— GRO