Psalm 119:18
(This is an entry from a devotional commentary I am working on from Psalm 119 entitled God and His Word. The introduction can be found here, successive entries have covered the 22 sections of the Psalm, and following entries verse by verse.)
"Open my eyes, that I may behold
Wonderful things from Your law."
This is an often repeated prayer, asking You, whose word is living and active, always fresh, always delightful, to make it so by experience in my heart by Your Spirit. The unspeakably wonderful things are already there, if I could but see them! I am reminded of Ephesians 1:18, a prayer that the eyes of our hearts may be enlightened, and also Ephesians 3:18-19, that we might see what we can’t see, and know by experience what we can’t know, and to be filled with what we don’t have, namely Your fullness by Your Spirit. ‘Behold’ reminds us of 2 Corinthians 3:18, that You would show us Your glory and that we would be transformed. How does that happen today? Moses beheld Your glory (Exodus 33:18-34:7, note both the sight and the word) and the Apostles beheld Your glory (John 1:14, Matthew 17:2, Mark 9:2, 2 Peter 1:16-21), yet one of them said that Your word is ‘more sure’, ‘as a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts’. May my heart be enraptured by what You show me in Your word today. Even as I write this, it is, and I am in awe. ‘Wonderful things’ is relatively rare in the O.T., occurring just one other time in Psalm 119 as ‘wonders’ in Psalm 119:27.
‘The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.’ – Helen Keller
‘The Tôra beneath the surface of its letter contains an abundance of such “wondrous things,” into which only eyes from which God has removed the covering of natural short-sightedness penetrate.’[1]
‘It is far better to have the eyes opened than to be placed in the midst of the noblest prospects and remain blind to their beauty… He [the Psalmist] didn’t have even half the Bible, but he treasured it more than some people cherish the whole thing. He felt that God had laid up great benefits and rewards in His Word, and he begs for power to perceive, appreciate, and enjoy them. We do not so much need God to give us more benefits, as we need the ability to see what He has already given.
The prayer implies a conscious darkness, a dimness of spiritual vision, a powerlessness to remove that defect, and a full assurance that God can remove it… The Bible is a land of wonder. It not only relates miracles, but is itself a world of wonders.
Yet what are these to closed eyes? And what person who is born blind can open his own eyes? God himself must reveal revelation to each heart. Scripture needs opening, but not half as much as our eyes do… it is a test of the true knowledge of God that it causes its possessor to thirst for deeper knowledge.’[2]
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