October 2013 - Daily Thoughts about God

Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things out of your law.” Psalm 119:18

In just a few short months, the world’s eyes will turn to Sochi, Russia for the Winter Olympic Games. Where I live in the United States, the Olympics games are always front and center because we have a training facility in our town. Athletes from around the world come here to train and compete.

Unfortunately some people approach Bible reading as an Olympic event: how fast can I read? am I reading more than my friends? did I read all the assignment? The psalmist has an entirely different view of approaching God’s words. He prays that his eyes would be open. We might say that we should be wide-eyed or wide-awake—vigilant or attentive—so that we “behold” or carefully notice or discern.

And the “wonderful things”? The original Hebrew means those matters that stand out from the rest and inspire us to reflect on larger issues. These are attention-getters and thought-provokers. They ask the questions “what is that?” and “how can that be?”

One day a religious scholar confronted Jesus with a question about holy scripture. Jesus understood that the man was knowledgeable about the Law and so, in true rabbinic style, Jesus asked him a question: “How do you read it?” What would have been our answer to that question? Would we have said that we read the Bible thirty minutes every day? That we know where to find the Ten Commandments or the Great Commission? Or would we have responded with what few words had provoked our thinking this morning? What had caused us to reflect on a mind-shattering larger issue?

One biblical scholar wrote that this kind of reading is like “letting a very slowly dissolving lozenge melt imperceptibly in your mouth.” David must have had this in mind when he wrote, “Taste and see that the Lord is good”! (Psalm 34:8)

Father, I confess that I’m tempted to approach Bible reading like much of life: for a “useful” purpose. Help me linger over your Word so our relationship grows more intimate and you are pleased.

What have you “tasted” recently in the Bible that caused you to reflect on God’s goodness?

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