We’re moving forward into the next section, Ps 119:17-24. There is a lot of great scripture in here, but I’m settling on v. 18, one of my all time favorite verses.
SCRIPTURE
Ps 119:18 Open my eyes, that I may behold Wonderful things from Thy law.
PRAYER
Lord, as usual we have many pressures and distractions and interests, but we pray that you will open our eyes, to see wonderful things in Your law! Teach us Lord. Amen.
Meditation
I remember hearing the great missionary George Verwer of Operation Mobilization talk about this verse years ago, that he likes the King James Version:
“Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.”
The KJV makes it so clear exactly who is doing the eye opening here. I couldn’t agree more, and for some reason that has always stuck with me.
So, the implication here is that the eyes of the Psalm writer are closed, by default. We come to the scriptures, we begin to read, we glaze over, and the meaning is hidden from us. It requires a supernatural intervention from God to make us understand the Scriptures.
It also implies that God is able to open our eyes. Of course God can do anything, but this is one of the things you can really expect Him to be interested in doing. God can teach us, He can disclose the meaning to us. This is a likely operation of God, to awaken us to the meaning of His law, if asked. So, this is not a matter of scholarship or special genius, it is a matter of prayer. Jesus actually praises the Father that He hides things from the wise and intelligent and reveals them to babes. (Mt 11:25; Lu 10:21)
Isn’t this interesting: it is perhaps true that the reason any of us can’t understand things when we read the Scriptures is because GOD is HIDING these truths from us! Especially if we come thinking we are wise and intelligent, ‘mature’ Christians, we are going to miss it, our study becomes dry. When we ask Him, then He reveals it. Study and scholarship run aground, and become dry and uninspiring, but God knows us, and knows how to interpret Scripture to us in a way that heals and convicts and effects change. Even a guy who was so good at all of this, and so legit, that he was WRITING PS 119, had to abide by this dynamic.
Make prayer a major part of your reading and study of the Bible and books about the Bible. God is your very best teacher!