Several years ago I was introduced to the poignant Irish hymn “Be Thou My Vision” for the first time. It quickly became a favorite, especially the stanza that reads: “Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise / Thou mine inheritance, now and always / Thou and Thou only, first in my heart / High King of heaven, my Treasure Thou art.”
Whenever I hear this verse-and I sing it often-I imagine the glorious, eternal riches of our inheritance in Christ. It is true that on Earth and in heaven, God has by His grace provided for us “one blessing after another” (John 1:16, NIV). Yet without eyes to see Christ as our inheritance and our chief aim, we don’t recognize His blessings for what they are.
King David wrote: “Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance” (Ps. 16:5).
In His sovereign, loving, infinite wisdom, God apportions to each of us what is to be ours. And He chooses better for us than we would choose for ourselves.
God selected an inheritance for Abraham that was beyond anything he knew to ask for. But He also told him, “‘I am your shield, your very great reward'” (Gen. 15:1). Seeing God Himself as his true reward moved Abraham to forfeit the earthly, temporal riches of Haran in order to claim the eternal wealth of Canaan and a heritage through which all the peoples of the earth would be blessed (see Gen. 12:2).
In The Pursuit of God renowned preacher and author A.W. Tozer wrote about the significance of making God our treasure: “The man who has God for His treasure has all things in One. Many ordinary treasures may be denied him, or if he is allowed to have them, the enjoyment of them will be so tempered that they will never be necessary to his happiness.
“Or if he must see them go, one after one, he will scarcely feel a sense of loss, for having the Source of all things he has in One all satisfaction, all pleasure, all delight. Whatever he may lose he has actually lost nothing, for he now has it all in One, and he has it purely, legitimately and forever.”
Although God deals with each of us in unique ways, His intentions toward us are the same as they were toward Abraham–to bless us and through us to bless others. The key to receiving His blessing is to see ourselves and our inheritance from heaven’s perspective.
It will take this kind of spiritually enhanced vision to take our land, because in every case, there will most certainly be giants to conquer-enemies within and without. But we must believe that possessing our territory for ourselves and our descendants is worth the fight of faith we’ll have to engage in.
Shake off any weariness or discouragement and take one faithful step at a time, boldly staking your claim: “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion [inheritance] forever” (Ps. 73:26).
