About six years ago, I wrote a hymn entitled, “Make Me Like the Moon.” In this first “On a Hymn” post, I will talk about a bit of the story and meaning behind this hymn.
First, you can listen to a recording of this song from the singers on the West Virginia Christian Youth Camp cds. The video is below. You can also simply read the lyrics below the video if you prefer.
Lord, shine through me.
Let me dwell in Your Glory.
Let my every move be made in Your Presence.
Make my feeble existence a reflection of Your Awesome Majesty!
Let Your Light pour from me onto this darkened World
That they may see You through me,
That they may see You through me.And, when I have hidden from Your Light behind the World,
Grant that I may enter once again into the bountiful radiance of Your Love.I ask You, Lord:
Please make me like the Moon.
– “Make Me Like the Moon” by Andrew J. Robison V
One night, I was praying to God for Him to help me to be more like Him. As I prayed, I thought about how we can never be just like God in all His glory and holiness. We can, at our best, only be a reflection of His beauty.
Thus, I thought of the moon. The moon may be bright on nights when it is full, but it never shines as brightly as the sun. An article on the site Live Science has this to say about the moon:
The moon shines because its surface reflects light from the sun. And despite the fact that it sometimes seems to shine very brightly, the moon reflects only between 3 and 12 percent of the sunlight that hits it.
– Elizabeth Palermo
Read the full article on Live Science:
Because the sun is the brightest body in our solar system, I compared it to God. God is often described as a great, bright light in scripture. Here are a few:
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
John 1:5
…God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all.
1 John 1:5b
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.
1 Peter 2:9
So just as God is light, so we should strive to walk in that light. Yet, we should not just seek to walk in God’s light, but we should be reflecting His light onto others. We often sing songs like, “This Little Light of Mine” which speaks of shining our light to others, but truthfully, it is God’s light we shine toward others. If His light is the fire, we have but small candles we have lit in His flame. If God’s light is the sun, then may we be like the moon, reflecting His glory to all around.
Now let’s talk specifically about the lyrics of this song.
Lord, shine through me.
Let me dwell in Your Glory.
Let my every move be made in Your Presence.
The first line asks for God to use us as a vessel to shine His light onto the world. The second line requests that we may be granted to dwell in God’s presence. The third line here asks that God not only be watchful of our every move, but that we may desire to never leave the glory of God.
Make my feeble existence a reflection of Your Awesome Majesty!
God is truly awesome and majestic. Nothing can be compared to Him. We can compare Him to our sun here, but there are millions of stars larger and more radiant than our sun. The universe is vast and full of incredible things, yet God is still immeasurably bigger and more awesome. This line also reminds us that compared to God’s great existence, ours is feeble and seemingly unimportant. If we could be granted even a percentage of a reflection of the awesomeness of God, we would be a great light to all those around us.
Let Your Light pour from me onto this darkened World
That they may see You through me.
As the moon reflects the light of the sun onto the earth during the dark night, so we should be reflecting the light of God to this darkened world. This world is so full of sin. It has become dark with it. The world needs God’s light again, and that can be seen in the life of a Christian. We want to show God’s light to all, not that we may gain some glory because of it, but so that the lost of this world may be able to see even a small glimpse of God through us.
And, when I have hidden from Your Light behind the World,
Grant that I may enter once again into the bountiful radiance of Your Love.
Sometimes, the moon is hidden from the light of the sun by the earth. Similarly, we often hide ourselves among the shadows of sin in this world. This part of the song asks, then, that God will extend his grace toward us that we may return into the warmth of His light. We sometimes think it is better to hide among the world, but deep down, we truly recognize that it is only in God’s light that we can thrive and fulfill our true mission of bringing others to Him.
I ask You, Lord:
Please make me like the Moon.
The song ends with our request of God to make us like the moon. Make us reflections of You, Lord. Help us to reflect Your glory all around us. Please make us like the moon.
Thank you for reading. I hope my prayer from six years ago can be a prayer that means something to you today. If you would like to hear more original hymns written by members of the church, you can visit a website that has audio, PowerPoint, and PDF files of many new songs written by various Christians over the last 20 years or so. Click the link below to visit!
Thanks again for reading and please comment below the names of other hymns (old and new) you might like me to write about!
V
Image source: https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/01/moon-oxygen/514928/
Beautiful words that provoke thought.