Psalm 119:17-24
17 Be good to your servant while I live, that I may obey your word.
18 Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law.
19 I am a stranger on earth; do not hide your commands from me.
20 My soul is consumed with longing for your laws at all times.
21 You rebuke the arrogant, who are accursed, those who stray from your commands.
22 Remove from me their scorn and contempt, for I keep your statutes.
23 Though rulers sit together and slander me, your servant will meditate on your decrees.
24 Your statutes are my delight; they are my counselors. [1]
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What struck me in this passage is the request in verse 18 that the Lord open the eyes of the psalmist so that he may see “wonderful things” in God’s law. This theme seems to be taken up again in verse 24 where the psalmist calls the statutes of God his delight.
Do I view God’s commands as a burden or a blessing? Do I see His law as a delight or a damper? This is the way that Satan tried to depict God’s command in the garden to Eve, as bad news. And this is the way our sinful nature still wants to characterize God’s law.
The psalmist is praying for a change in heart regarding God’s law. He prays that instead of seeing it as a burden, he would more and more see it as a blessed privilege and delight. If my mind could fully embrace seeing God’s will in this way, then it would follow of course that I would be ever more eager to keep it.
So the psalmist’s prayer is my prayer today. I pray that God would open my eyes and show me the wonderful things that He desires for me in His law. I pray that His Spirit would lead me to delight in it.
What is the Word leading you to pray about today?
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[1] The New International Version. (2011). (Ps 119:17–24). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
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