Morning Psalms and Prayer: Psalm 119:17-24

Think on these questions as we look at Psalm 119:17-24:

1. Reflecting on verse 18, how does the Psalmist's prayer for God to "open my eyes" highlight the crucial role of the Holy Spirit in understanding and applying God's word today? How can believers cultivate a reliance on the Holy Spirit for spiritual insight and understanding?

2. In verse 20, the Psalmist expresses a desire for his soul to be consumed with longing for God's rules at all times. Why is this longing significant in the pursuit of holiness? What practical steps can individuals take to nurture a genuine longing for God's commands in their daily lives?

3. The Psalmist finds delight and counsel in God's testimonies, emphasizing their importance in shaping his perspective and guiding his actions. How can believers today similarly find joy and guidance in the testimonies and narratives found throughout the Bible? How might a deep appreciation for God's testimonies impact one's faith journey?

Transcript:

As we think about what these verses mean for us today, we see here in verse 18, Open my eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of your law. What a great prayer that is, that we want God to open our eyes. We understand that without the work of the Holy spirit in us, we are not going to truly understand the word of God. We need that spirit working in us. So what a prayer that God would open our eyes and help us to see wondrous things in his law, that we would know God's word, that we'd be able to apply it to our lives because there There are so many wonderful things in his word, and we need God's help to understand those and apply them to our lives. Then we also see in verse 20 that he prays that his soul will be consumed with longing for God's rules at all times. That's a struggle, isn't it? Often, we like to think that we would be able to long after God's rules, but we often also want to do what our hearts want. And so this prayer to ask that we would be consumed with longing for God's rules is a good thing because if God's law was on our mind, we would live our lives completely differently.

And this goes back to what we've seen so far here in Psalm 119, the focus on God's word, the focus that we can't do this life of Holiness without the word of God. That is how we not only know what Holiness is, but it also grooms us in Holiness through God's word and spirit. So we trust in that, and may that be a prayer for us, that we would be longing for God's rules at all times. Lastly, We come back to this again. Your testimonies are my delight. They are my counselors. It's God's word. It's the testimony of what God has done in history that is the delight of the Psalmist. Let that be our delight, too. That delight that God is working, that God has worked in history through his word, and he has done that to save us. And so we can trust that he is working for us, for his glory and for our good. And so may those stories, may the testimonies of God's work in his word be Let that help us to find peace. Let that help us to find our way in God's world as we serve him.