suddenly I see

K T Tunstall may not be everyone's cup of tea, I appreciate. No matter.

She's a Scottish singer/song-writer. And among the songs she sings is one called "Suddenly I see".

I'm not entirely sure exactly what the song is about (though I've got a pretty good idea): but the powerful statement right at the heart of the song is crystal clear. Suddenly I see.

We had the song played on Sunday night by one of the girls in the crowd of young folk who meet here Sunday by Sunday.

They're a lovely, lively bunch: and part of each evening is given to one of these folk where they get the chance to play a bit of music which they like and draw out something of the spiritual significance of the song for them.

K T Tunstall's "Suddenly I see" was the choice of one of the girls this Sunday past. It's a catchy sort of tune, and the singer's voice is attractive.

So we listened until the song was done - and then the girl spoke: to explain why it meant so much to her.

Reason - that was her experience in three short words. Last year it had been. At a Powerpoint evening here in town (Powerpoint is a regular get-together from right across the town of Christian youngsters).

During the course of that evening it was like she 'suddenly saw': she suddenly saw that following Jesus was how she wanted to live the rest of her life.

It was powerful stuff. It reduced her to tears at the time - and the tears weren't all that far away from any of us the way she shared the thing.

Suddenly I see. That's how it sometimes is. Blind, or not really seeing the thing at all for long enough: then, suddenly, it all becomes clear: it all falls into place. And it's like how did I never see that before?

I knew a man whose experience was just like that back in the days when I was in Cumbernauld. Suddenly, he would narrate - suddenly one day, while he was right at the top of a ladder, cleaning someone's windows, suddenly he got it, the whole Jesus thing became clear.

Suddenly I see!

I knew another man back in those far-off Cumbernauld days, who'd been coming to worship for 25 years - largely for what he termed the aesthetic experience. And then one morning, sharing in worship, listening to Scripture being read and then expounded, suddenly it was like a veil was removed from his eyes, and it all became clear.

Suddenly I see!

That's not always how it is. But more often than maybe we dare to think it could be, it is. The Lord opens eyes and people suddenly see.

There's a man in the Bible like that. In fact there are loads of folk in the Bible like that. But I was thinking about a pretty important and high up man, religious through and through, who went into the temple one day and - well, suddenly he saw.

He saw the Lord as he really is, and was driven to his knees - Woe is me, he declared.

He saw glory. And in that very same moment he also saw sin. It's the sight of the awesomenenss of the glory of God which enables us to see the awfulness of the sin in our lives.

Maybe that's how it always is.

So I'm praying in these days for that suddenly I see sort of thing: praying that in God's grace and mercy he would give us eyes to see the beauty of his holiness, that we might see as well the folly of our sin and our presumption in ignoring what God says.

May there be many who find themselves saying - suddenly I see.