Before the Throne of God Above

Before the throne of God above
I have a strong and perfect plea.
A great high Priest whose Name is Love
Who ever lives and pleads for me.
My name is graven on His hands,
My name is written on His heart.
I know that while in Heaven He stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart.

When Satan tempts me to despair
And tells me of the guilt within,
Upward I look and see Him there
Who made an end of all my sin.
Because the sinless Savior died
My sinful soul is counted free.
For God the just is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me.

Behold Him there the risen Lamb,
My perfect spotless righteousness,
The great unchangeable I AM,
The King of glory and of grace,
One in Himself I cannot die.
My soul is purchased by His blood,
My life is hid with Christ on high,
With Christ my Savior and my God!

I was listening to Selah's rendition of this hymn, the music sounded contemporary, and I wanted to find the original music of this hymn. Subsequently while searching, I chanced upon the words of the hymns, which were surprisingly relevant to what I have been through these few days near the exams period.

The second stanza contains a very important and powerful message. A point which most of us might have taken for granted, or even ignored and well again that is the genius satan working. I have been feeling guilty these few days for not being able to study effectively, and to an extent not being able to give my best. The guilty feeling kinda slowed me down even more, and there the vicious cycle continues.

The hymn told me "When Satan tempts me to despair, And tells me of the guilt within". I was reminded that while I thought it was normal to feel guilty, it is definitely not from God. Why would God make us feel guilty for something which He has already pardoned us for. Worse still, this guilty in a way blurs my focus on God, making me focus on using my own effort more rather than walking with God.

So how? what should we do?
Look up, look at Him, our Just God, the Perfect One, is satisfied with what we are because He was looking at us through Jesus who had paid for all those guilt we have done.

I think the rest of the hymn is very beautiful as well, I just wish I have enough free time to write up more on what I think the hymn means and how beautiful it is. Well, there's a time for everything. For now, this should be all :)

Lastly, I pray that God opened the heart of more and more people to appreciate hymns more. I myself found singing hymns not only reassuring my faith but also helping me learn facts that I usually take for granted. I find hymns as one of the great blessings as a Christian that I think no one should take it for granted.

PS : There's actually no original composed music for this hymn, I think, it uses tunes from Sweet Hour of Prayer and And Can It Be.