Open My Eyes

Open my eyes to see the wonderful truths in your instructions.

Psalm 119:18

We might think of the Word of God as encrypted. That is, we require the proper equipment to really understand it. Although we may understand the words on the pages, without the Holy Spirit revealing its secrets, the spiritual truths of God’s Word remain unavailable to us.

These riches are not sitting on the surface to be skimmed off by the casual observer. They have to be mined, like gold or silver. God has set it up this way on purpose, because his Word is not something that stands alone, separate from his person. His living Spirit, speaking his Word in present tense, takes the Scriptures from the realm of mere words on pages in his Book to a living, active, powerful expression of himself.

I’m always amazed at the way a passage or verse of Scripture that I have known for years suddenly says something new to me or the way I learn old truths at deeper levels. I simply can’t come to the end of what the Word of God has to say to me, because the Word is a universe of truth that seems to keep expanding. Out there, beyond what I have discovered, are galaxies yet unexplored.

Paul says that to a person without the Spirit of God, the things of God are foolishness. That person is unable to understand spiritual things, not because he is unintelligent but because it is the Spirit who explains the Scriptures so that we can understand them. As believers, we have that Spirit, so we can understand: “People who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means” (1 Corinthians 2:14).

God promises that he will open our “eyes,” that is, our understanding, and call our attention to new spiritual truths that will work in our lives, bringing us into the depths of his Kingdom and the “treasures hidden in the darkness—secret riches” (Isaiah 45:3).

Lord, show me wonderful things stored in your Word. Show me the deep and hidden things that only your Spirit can reveal. Wrap those things around my heart and anchor them in my life.

There is no worse screen to block out the Spirit than confidence in our own intelligence.

John Calvin(1509–1564), French theologian and pastor