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“Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.” (Psalm 119:18 ESV)
Our verse this month highlights the inseparable connection between our receptivity to God’s Word and our dependency on God in prayer.
First, we need more than physical vision to be able to read the Scriptures. The Bible can only be comprehended when the eyes of our hearts have been opened to perceive God’s glory and goodness in the word he has revealed. We constantly need “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, [to give us] the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of [our] hearts enlightened” (Eph. 1:17-18a). So whenever we open God’s Word, let us pray without ceasing that God would open our eyes.
Why do we need the eye-opening operation of God’s Spirit on our hearts? Because we are meant to “behold wondrous things” whenever we hear or read the Bible. God’s revelation of his will and ways is intended to be gazed at and admired, transfixing our attention and reviving our affections, so that we are changed into the likeness of God’s Son. It is through “beholding the glory of the Lord” that we become more and more like him, “being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.” We cannot achieve this transformation through our own intelligence or diligence: “this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Cor. 3:18). So as we read, we pray that God’s Spirit would concentrate our focus on the glory of Christ in whom all the wondrous things of God are displayed most brilliantly.
Finally, through prayer, God inclines our hearts to treasure obedience to him: “Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain!” (Psalm 119:36). Our sinful hearts distrust the goodness of God’s law; we resent being told what to do and how to live. But prayer can overcome our inborn rebellion and turn the law of God into a wondrous thing in which we delight: “Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day” (Psalm 119:97). In prayer, we learn to love the God who gives us his law; and love for God turns duty into delight, for we discover that “his commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3b).
Thank you for joining us in prayer this month for WordPartners’ work in the United States. We long to see the Word of God flow powerfully through every church in our nation so that more and more of our friends and neighbors would experience the miracle of having their eyes opened to behold wondrous things out of God’s instruction!
Please pray . . .
