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Lord, how great is our dilemma! In Thy Presence silence best becomes us, but loves inflames our hearts and constrains us to speak.

Were we to hold our peace the stones would cry out; yet if we speak, what shall we say? Teach us to know that we cannot know, for the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Let faith support us where reason fails, and we shall think because we believe, not in order that we may believe.

AW Tozer The Knowledge of the Holy, P. 9.

Wor...

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Lord, how great is our dilemma! In Thy Presence silence best becomes us, but loves inflames our hearts and constrains us to speak.

Were we to hold our peace the stones would cry out; yet if we speak, what shall we say? Teach us to know that we cannot know, for the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Let faith support us where reason fails, and we shall think because we believe, not in order that we may believe.

AW Tozer The Knowledge of the Holy, P. 9.

Worship is a great dilemma. We have been saved by a personal God, yet God is so high and holy that the angels must veil their faces when approaching Him. (See Isaiah 6) Perhaps this is why God gave song to His Creation that they might praise Him correctly. For in singing, saints worship the unapproachable God with words of praise that are foundational to His Being. (See Psalm 22:3)

The hymn, "Immortal, invisible" is inspired by 1 Timothy 1:17. It is a doxology of praise to God the Son and God the Father.

The words, "Immortal, invisible, God only wise" are taken directly from St. Paul’s letter to his "son" Timothy. In just the first line of the hymn, the parameters of praise are so profound that this hymn becomes a primer the worship of this incomprehensible God.

Because we are human, that is, mortal, we are drawn to this "immortal" God. His power is absolute and before anything else was, He existed. There is not a stray particle of power that is unknown to Him.

He is also "invisible." That is, our sense of sight cannot perceive Him. Yet, through eyes of faith, His innumerable acts of mercy and love are everywhere. We have a King that cannot be touched or whose voice cannot be audibly heard, but still, His Spirit communicates with our spirit in a voice that thunders with hope and power.

We can never "know God." He is too high, too holy.

But as we sing and meditate on this hymn, our souls will begin to find their eternal longing fulfilled.

Sovereign Father, heavenly King,
Thee we now presume to sing;
Glad thine attributes confess,
Glorious all, and numberless. Charles Wesley

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Based on I Timothy 1:17, "Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever", "Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise" reminds us of the awe and reverence that we need to have as we worship our God. Even as we cannot see the sun, we see merely the light reflected by the hot gases surrounding the sun, so God’s glory is hid from our eyes. Even the angels cover their faces in God’s presence (Isaiah 6:2) because they cannot lo...

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Based on I Timothy 1:17, "Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever", "Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise" reminds us of the awe and reverence that we need to have as we worship our God. Even as we cannot see the sun, we see merely the light reflected by the hot gases surrounding the sun, so God’s glory is hid from our eyes. Even the angels cover their faces in God’s presence (Isaiah 6:2) because they cannot look on God’s full glory.

"Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise" draws from other Scriptural references as well. "The Ancient of Days" from stanza one is from Daniel 7:9. "Thy justice like mountains" from stanza two is from Psalm 36:6. Originally written with six stanzas, stanza four referenced II Corinthians 3:15-16. The original stanzas four and five were combined to make the contemporary fourth stanza.

Great Father of Glory, pure Father of Light,
Thine angels adore thee, all veiling their sight;
But of all thy rich graces this grace, Lord, impart -
Take the veil from our faces, the vile from our heart. All laud we would render; O help us to see
'Tis only the splendour of light hideth thee,
And so let thy glory, almighty, impart,
Through Christ in his story, thy Christ to the heart.

"Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise" was first published in Hymns of Christ and Christian Life, (1876). The text was altered by the author and published in W. Garrett Horder’s Congregational Hymns. (1884)

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