Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.
PSALM 119:18
Robert Murray McCheyne of Dundee died at the early age of twenty-nine. His short but successful ministry continues to touch and bless lives through his memoirs, letters, and sermons. Writing to a young believer, he shared this spiritual advice: Turn the reading of your Bible into prayer. Thus, if you are reading the first psalm, spread the Bible on a chair before you and kneel down and pray, O Lord, give me the blessedness of this man; let me not walk in the counsel of the ungodly. This is the best way of knowing the meaning of the Bible and of learning to pray.
Speaking of the psalmist, McCheyne writes: He was not blind, his eye was not dim, and yet he felt that he needed to see deeper, to have the eyes of his understanding opened. He felt that if he had nothing but his own eyes and natural understanding, he would not discover the wonders which he panted to see. He wanted divine teaching, the eye salve of the Spirit; and therefore he would not open the Bible without this prayer.
If the man after Gods own heart felt like that, how much more should we? We must confess our natural inability to grasp divine truth and apply it to our lives. But natural inability is no barrier to a spiritual education. The psalmists prayer is one the Lord delights to answer. The Holy Spirit will always reveal spiritual truth to praying saints. He will open the eyes of our understanding and direct our hearts into the knowledge of our God.
Will you take McCheynes advice and cry for the eye salve of the Spirit? Learn to make the Bible your prayer book, not just your reading book, and you will be amazed at how much more you see in it.
(Eagles Wings)
A humble and prayerful spirit will find a thousand things in the Bible which the proud, self-conceited student will utterly fail to discern.
J. C. Ryle
