HOW IS YOUR EYESIGHT, COMPREHENSION AND UNDERSTANDING?

BIBLE PASSAGE:
Open my eyes that may see wonderful things in your law.
(Psalm 119:18)

MEDITATION:
Have you ever thought about what your life would be like if
you lost your eyesight? The things you can readily see now
would become just a vision in your mind. You would have to
start relying on descriptions from others and form visions in
your mind.

The decadent and dirty things visible to others may not seem
quite as severe since you can’t see them, but you would not be
able to fully appreciate all the beautiful things either. Others
may try their best to describe things of beauty, but without
the ability to see them yourself, it would be difficult to fully
appreciate the magnitude of the beauty you are missing.

We can experience the same sensations when we are reading
a book, right? The author tries very hard to describe things
in detail, but the mental vision we have may be something
entirely different than what he intended for us to envision.
For us to see the things from his perspective, we need to see
them through his eyes, which of course is not possible.

We can see why the psalmist had a desire to see, and fully
appreciate God’s Word. He knew there were wonderful
things that he was missing, and we could be missing out
as well, couldn’t we? We may be reading the Bible, but
for some reason we can’t appreciate the full impact of
God’s Word.

It could be because we are reading it, but not spending time
meditating on what we have read. Some people don’t spend
time reading the Bible because they think it is filled full of
words like ‘thee’, ‘thou’, ‘wherefore’, ‘verily’, etc. As a result,
they are not interested in its content and consider it to be no
real benefit to them.

Nothing could be further from the truth. God’s Word is full of
beautiful and wonderful content. The problem is, some read it
and create their own vision (opinion) of what the scriptures are
communicating to us. Unless we develop a close relationship
with its Author, we will miss out on the beauty of its content.

For us to fully appreciate the impact of what God wants us to
glean from His Word, we need to spend more time with Him
in prayer, and in reading the bible. The closer we are to the
Lord, the more we will begin to understand things in the way
He intended when they were written.

ACTION:
Ask yourself these questions:
    – How much do I enjoy reading the Bible?
    – Am I just going through the motions of
       reading it, but missing out on its beauty?

If reading the bible seems mundane and unexciting, it could be
because we don’t have a close relationship with the Lord. When
we are close to Him, we will be able to better understand the
wonderful things He says to us.

Why did God give us His Word anyway? What is the purpose
of the Bible? God didn’t create it for His benefit, did He? He
created it to benefit us. That means He has provided a wealth
of information that is valuable and helpful to us.

It’s not just another book to be read, it’s an instructional manual
that teaches us how to enjoy life now, how to develop a friendship
with the Lord, how to treat others, how to serve the Lord, how to
discover (and use) the spiritual gifts He has given us, how to praise
and worship God, and how to understand what is required of us
to receive salvation which assures us we will spend eternity with
God, and His Son, Jesus.

Let’s be honest, if we expect to comprehend what the scriptures tell
us (in other words read and understand things as He intended), then
we need to see things through God’s eyes. Of course we will never see
everything as He does, but we have been given an opportunity to get
a glimpse of some things that will change our lives, and increase our
desire to fellowship with and appreciate Him more.

Pray,
“Heavenly Father, thank You for giving me Your Word that
has survived all the centuries. Help me to be able to see the
beauty in the content of the Bible, so that my brief life on
earth can be enjoyed as it should be. Teach me how to read
Your book in a way that will give me the greatest benefit from
Your instructions. Show me how to read and meditate on the
words, rather than hurrying through them so I can keep track
of how much I have read. As I read the scriptures each day,
open my eyes to the beauty of the love You have for me.”

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