Fred, over at fredmckinnon.com has got a great series going about CCLI’s top 25 songs. This week he posted about Open The Eyes of My Heart by Paul Baloche.

As I was looking over the lyrics of this simple yet powerful song, I began to remember fondly all the times we used to sing this song back at my former home church in Jesup, Georgia. This was one of our “go-to” songs. It’s so easy and so singable. Paul Baloche really received a gem from God when he penned this one.

Open the eyes of my heart, Lord
Open the eyes of my heart
I want to see You, I want to see You
To see You high and lifted up
Shining in the light of Your glory
Pour out Your power and love
As we sing, “Holy, holy, holy”

Holy, holy, holy
Holy, holy, holy
Holy, holy, holy
I want to see You

Simple, repetitive and true lyrics set to a ctachy tune makes for a great song.

Paul Baloche shares the story behind the song here. In a nutshell, it came during a time of prayer and praise as he was pondering Ephesians 1:18 and when Isaiah saw the Lord.

Ephesians 1:18 talks about the eyes of our hearts being enlightened (opened) so that we may know hope, inheritance, and power. The same power that exalted Jesus.

One verse earlier (17) talks about asking God for the Spirit of wisdom and revelation so that we might know Him better.

One thing that jumps out at me in the Apostle Paul’s prayer for the church at Ephesus is that their hearts would be enlightened to know. Not just to see. But to see and know the hope, inheritance, and power that raised and exalted Jesus.

This is a passage about knowing God and becoming intimate. Not sexually or physically, but intimate in the way lovers or best friends are in conversation. Knowing each other deeply. Knowing each other in a real way. It’s the same kind of intimacy you see when couples finish each other’s sentences. I want to know God and I want Him to know me.

I was reading Donald Miller’s Searching for God Knows What the last few days and another thing that jumped out at me in my “pondering” times is this: To know God really and truly means to let go of my preconceived notions about Him. Let go of my fabricated and imagined ideas about how He works.

God doesn’t fit into my categories. Or yours. But He still desires for us to know Him. How do we get to know Him? According to the Apostle Paul in verse 17, one way is to ASK for wisdom and revelation from the Holy Spirit.

Remember the next time you sing this song, it’s not just a catchy tune that was manufactured to sell records. It’s a simplified prayer right out of Ephesians.