THURSDAY 27th
Psalm 119
ESV (v18) – ‘Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.’
There are many prayers in Scripture that we also can put to use, for example we have the prayer that Nehemiah used when he wanted to have favour with the King, he prays, ‘O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name, and give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.’ This is a prayer we can utter when we are engaging in a matter that requires a positive answer, there is the prayer that we know so well that the Lord Jesus taught his disciples, ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.’
Then, there is this simple prayer that is uttered in this psalm, just thirteen words ‘Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.’ When I was in school, we had a Christian Union, and we would pray this prayer every time we met together, and it is a good prayer to pray as we come to spend time in the Word of God, praying that God by his Holy Spirit would open our eyes and illuminate our understanding to discover further truth, to be able to understand his Word in a more intimate and powerful way. The psalmist continues in verse 24 to say, ‘Your testimonies are my delight; they are my counsellors.’ This means that he allowed the Word of God to counsel, him, give him insight, direction, and to understand the course that God had set out for him. We are reminded in the New Testament that the Word of God is living and powerful, (Hebrews 4:12) and that it is suitable or profitable for teaching, reproof, for correction, and training in righteousness. (2 Timothy 3:16) May we have our eyes opened as we read the Word of God, and may we heed the counsel it gives us, as we will see later in this psalm, ‘Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.’