O Spirit, now we thank You For giving us Your Word. Please bless its proclamation, The truths that we have heard. Indwell us and empow’r us, And cause us to obey; Shine now the light of Scripture On all we do and say.
Great Artist of the Scriptures, In beauty You have made God’s Word to shine in glory That cannot fail or fade. In poetry and proverbs, Through narrative and line; In prophecy and hist’ry, God’s truth in splendor shines.
You, down through many ages Inspired men to write, Progressively revealing, You brought God’s truth to light. O Spirit, come illumine This truth for us today; And guide us in sound doctrine, The straight and narrow way.
Wield now Your Sword, O Spirit, The quick and living Word, And rend our hearts asunder With truths that we have heard. O search us now and know us, Expose iniquity; Conform us to our Savior, And holy we shall be.
This hymn is a prayer addressed to the Holy Spirit, who inspired and crafted the Word of God. It is written to serve as a closing hymn following the preaching of the Word. In the hymn we respond to the preaching by asking the Spirit to “bless its proclamation” and apply it in an effective way to our lives. The final verse is based on Hebrew 4:12. Scripture is the sword of the Spirit, who skillfully and lovingly lays bare our hearts with truth.
“For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).
The idea for the hymn came in October 1995 during a Sunday School class taught by Steve Garrick at Heritage Baptist Church. Steve was teaching a series of lessons on the person and work of the Holy Spirit. During the lesson on October 22nd, he compared the Spirit’s work in bringing us God’s Word to that of an artist. When God revealed His Word to us, he did not package it as a “systematic theology.” He chose and inspired men to write from their own experiences in poetry, proverb, narrative, history, and prophesy. The Bible is a great work of art crafted by the Spirit “through many ages” as God-breathed revelation. I thought during the class that the comparison would work well for lyrics to a hymn. I finally wrote the hymn several months later. I finished the lyrics on July 8, 1996 while driving to Dallas Baptist University, where I was teaching Classical Guitar during the summer semester. The hymn tune is named for Pastor Steve Garrick.
Below is a list of psalm settings, hymns, and spiritual songs that teach on the doctrine of Scripture: Special Revelation. The songs are arranged under 17 theological statements, including one for which I have not yet found related songs
If you have additional suggestions for songs related to the doctrine of Scripture that should be included in the index, please comment or send me a message.
Note: The songs are listed below by title and author. For more complete entries (including tunes and hymnal page numbers) see the page for Songs and God’s Word in the Theological Index of Music for Worship online. I will be updating the online Index with more songs and topics in the days ahead as I receive recommendations.
