Psalm 119:18
Open my eyes, that I might behold wonderous things out of your law. Psalm 119:18
Today, it is so easy for me to read this verse and conclude, “Oh, Father! You know how I want so badly to see the abundance of wonderous things in Your law. Please, continue to reveal Yourself to me!”
But…
In my twenties, I was not a Christian and I would have processed this verse completely in the flesh so I would be reading something like, “Make wonderous things known to me for my benefit and my glory; my kingdom come, my will be done!”
In my thirties, at the apex of sin being played out in my life, I would have looked at this same verse thinking I was reading, “Open my eyes so that I can get out of this dreadful situation I find myself in. Take away the consequences of my sin and make my life abundant according to the desires of my heart!”
In my forties, I would have had a more sobering response but still arrogant in my understanding. I would have interpreted this verse to say something like, “Now that you have rescued me, show me wonderous things that I can share with others so that they can be like me. You were so good to have saved me!”
In my fifties, humility would have begun to creep in, but I would have still been struggling not to hold onto my own efforts to work out God’s law. My thinking would be something like, “You have opened my eyes, I have seen wonderous things in your law that I do regularly. Thank you that I am not like that other guy!”
The Pharisee and the Tax Collector
He (Jesus) also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you; this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”— Luke 18: 9-14 ESV
Now my prayer each morning sounds more like, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” I am saved by grace, but I still sin. My identity is secure as a redeemed child of the Creator God. Yet, each day I sense my sin in new ways. With that I urgently cry out like a needy child “Abba, Father!”
God open my eyes today to see wonderous things in your law.
