Okay, yesterday I thought it was a good ask. This morning I know it’s a good ask. Yesterday I had two witnesses testifying it was a profitable prayer, Solomon in 1Kings and Paul in Ephesians. This morning, the songwriter chimes in as the third witness. No doubt about it. This is solid ground. “Open my eyes” is a good ask to ask.

Deal bountifully with Your servant, that I may live and keep Your word.

(Psalm 119:17ESV)

Deal bountifully. Be generous with me (MSG). Dish out blessing, a lot of blessing (PJC).

Stop there and imagine all that the songwriter could have had in mind. What kind of bounty could he be asking the Lord to deal out? Wealth? Health? Favor in business? Happiness–however that might be defined? Yup, coulda’ been any of those things. But it wasn’t.

The songwriter wants to live life, and life to the full. Whatever his threescore and ten (Ps. 90:10 KJV) might be, he wanted to max it out. And that, he knows, is possible only when the creation is in step with the Creator. When image-bearers walk in the way of the One whose image they bear. When daily duty is enveloped in divine direction. Be generous with me, says the psalmist, so that I might do life. And real life is living according to Your word.

And so, the ask. Teachers? Preachers? Mentors? Bible studies? Books? Blogs? Podcasts? Video streaming? What’s the bounty the songwriter’s wanting to be dealt?

Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of Your law.

(Psalm 119:18 ESV)

Open my eyes! That’s the ask.

Uncover them. Remove any blinders of bias. Take down walls of know-it-all-ism. Dispel the remnant darkness of a corrupt heart. Because, when I read Your word, I want to behold wondrous things in Your word. And I can’t do that, unless You open my eyes, Lord. Unless You illuminate Your word.

And far from his petition being sourced in some sort of academic orientation, it is actually an intensely practical, in touch with reality ask.

I am a sojourner on the earth; hide not Your commandments from me!

(Psalm 119:19 ESV)

I know I am a sojourner. A temporary inhabitant. A foreigner with no inherited rights. Just a pilgrim looking for a land. This world is not my home, I’m just a passing through. (Catchy . . . someone should write a song about that.)

And because I’m a stranger in these parts (MSG), I need a GPS. I need direction. I need wisdom. I need to know the pitfalls. I need to know the way. And I really need to know the way to get back on the way when I trip up or get distracted from the way. And that, Lord, is found in Your word.

Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of Your law.

There was a season when every morning I prayed that prayer as I opened my Bible. Still do sometimes. Perhaps I should more.

Can’t think of a better way to engage God’s word than to ask God to open our eyes. To believe that there are wondrous things, extraordinary things, marvelous things to be discovered every time we enter into encounters of the divine kind with words breathed-out by God Himself. And believing that, to ask God, through His Spirit, for help in receiving that.

Your testimonies are my delight; they are my counselors.

(Psalm 119:24 ESV)

Open our eyes, by Your grace. Direct our sojourning, for Your glory.