Good Morning! - 2010.08.05 - Psalm 119:18 - Open Mine Eyes

Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. (Psalm 119:18)

The Bible talks a lot about eyes and most often it applies to our relationship with Him. That's what this verse is about.

Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible, 176 verses. Every verse makes reference to the Word of God, using a variety of words. As I was reading Psalm 119 several years ago, verse 18 seized my attention and I knew I had to memorize it. So, I wrote it on a card and included it in my Bible memory program. This is a short but powerful prayer from the heart of the psalmist. I have reviewed the verse hundreds of times and it always strengthens the inner man.

A weak Bible always results in weak Christians. In America there is a famine for the hearing and reading of the Word of God. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. (Hosea 4:6)

If we could realize how deep and wonderful many things are in the Word of God, we would spend more time reading and studying it and meditating on it and hearing it and memorizing it.

Open thou mine eyes. I dare say that most Christians don't realize that they have a desperate need for God to open their eyes that they may see, may uncover things in the Bible. Otherwise, it's just another book and an irrelevant, dull, boring book at that. I have had many people to tell me that they just don't get anything out of the Bible when they read it. I think they are telling the truth. With all of these honest people there was a need for God to open their eyes and give them a thirst for the Word of God. I have found that nothing will increase one's desire to know the Bible like simply reading the Bible on a daily basis. It creates an appetite for more.

Open: Heb. Reveal, Isa_29:10-12, Isa_29:18, Isa_32:3, Isa_35:5; Mat_13:13, Mat_16:17; Joh_9:39; Act_26:18; 2Co_3:14-18, 2Co_4:4-6; Eph_1:17-18; Rev_3:18

That I may behold wondrous things. Amazing things. Profound things. Interesting things. Exciting things! For the 24-plus years Barbara and I have been married we have disciplined ourselves to read the Bible together at least five days a week and usually six days. We do not read on the Lord's day. Currently we are using the book: All the Prayers of the Bible by Herbert Lockeyer. We look up all the passages listed under each prayer listed in the Bible as well as Mr. Lockeyer's commentary. Then each of us has our own private Bible reading. If you want to walk with God, give Him something to work with.

wondrous: Psa_119:96; Hos_8:12; 2Co_3:13; Heb_8:5, Heb_10:1

Out of thy law – "Out of the written word; out of the Scriptures. The word "law" here is used to denote "all" that God had revealed to mankind; all that is contained in the volume of inspiration. The truths taught here are

(1) That there are deep, hidden, secret things in the word of God, which are not perceived by the natural man;

(2) That those things, when understood, are suited to excite wonder, or to fill the mind with admiring views of God;

(3) That a special illumination of God is necessary that man may perceive these things; and

(4) That the proper understanding of these things is connected with prayer, and can be hoped for only in answer to prayer.

No one has a proper appreciation of divine truth - of the beauty, the spiritual meaning, the grandeur, the sublimity of the Bible - until he is a renewed - a praying - man. See: 1Corinthians 2:6-15." (Barnes)