Dissecting and Translating - 'If You Could See'

A few months ago I wrote the last of a four-part article The Psalms: Part 4 of 4 - The Business of Heaven. This final post concludes my view that hymnodies are guideposts pointing to our services in heaven on the other side of eternity.

I have stated in the three earlier installments, today's so-called hymns are devoided of the Christian theology of forgiveness and salvation. Specifically, hymns of our fathers concerning the holiness, the lovingkindness, the propitiation of Christ on the cross, and faithfulness of God to man, have given way to the "touchy-feely" emotions of the self, advocated by the song - not hymn - writers. The reference to the God-Christ is secondary or vague in these songs.

In the 'If You Could See' Christian song, the focus is placed on the self. The self could be anybody of any faith. A Buddhist, a Muslim, or a Hindu. These believers can relate to this song in reference to their deity or deities. If this indistinct reference to Christ can be generically transposed for other gods, then what we believe is in vain.

Two things I attempted in this translation. One, to take an existentialist text and turn it back to Christ, hopefully, with less ambiguity. Two, to make the translated verses rhyme.

In verses one and two of 'If You Could See', the suggestion of "look up at the blue sky" and "listen to the crashing waves" could or should lead one to thank God for His mercy is tenuous at best. Never mind the metaphysical interpretations other world religions can place on these two verses, an atheist can, too. The atheist could say, "Cool. These verses are very much like 'Stop and smell the roses. Appreciate life's pleasures along the way'." So then, there is no fundamental difference in thought among 'smelling the roses', 'seeing the sky' and 'hearing the sea'. Signs of existentialism are evinced in this song.

What I did, albeit poorly, was to place the focus back on God as the creator and enabler in the first two verses of this song. In verse one, He is the "true light". In verse two, "we soar" on His bespangled waves like we'd soar as eagles in Isaiah 43:1. This prilgrim's progress is assured and sustained because of the "true light". These two verses are now less of a vanilla flavor that can be appropriated for other gods. People of other faiths will have to articulate what their "true light" is.

Verses three and four are variations of the first two verses. In these latter two verses, the song writer asks us to "really really look to the sky closely more than once" and to "really really listen closely to the waves" to find God. This is full blown existentialism.

To bring verses three and four back to the Godhead as the Savior, I had to depart from 'watching more skies' and 'listening to more waves.' Thus in the translation of verse three, because of our pride, we could not see God's creation in nature (the largest expanses visible to our naked eyes are the skies and the oceans) and us, created in His own image (exemplified by we 'not seeing our own hands' in the original text), until we look to Christ and the eternal glory which awaits us.

Lastly, in verse four, the 'waves' are as 'emerald seam'overlapping line one gleaming line. Christ is the waves which stir us to hear. The man from Galilee is still calling and reminding us, He is the 'living water' or 'stream'.

The outcome of this lesson affects not one iota of the text to 'If You Could See.' I pursuited this exercise for my edification. Not much more will be said of this song.