Praying for Insight

Psalms 119:18-20
(18) Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.
(19) I am a sojourner on the earth; hide not your commandments from me!
(20) My soul is consumed with longing for your rules at all times.

This passage has profound insight on a number of levels. An obvious one is for devotions. Are we praying that the Holy Spirit would illuminate us in our understanding of Scripture? Are we asking God to open our eyes? The Bible makes a certain amount of sense to everyone, but to have the kind of insight about and love for God's Word described here takes an act of grace. Is this something that we pursue? Do we long for God's rules at all times?

One thing to note as you read through the Old Testament is that you can mentally substitute "Torah" for "law." The Torah is the first 5 books of Scripture, which is what David would have as his reference. It was all the Bible they had at the time. Now we are blessed with 61 additional books. Do we have a desire to delight in them as described in verse 20?

The other application is for our postmodern friends out there. It's great to ask questions and embrace mystery. However, God's Word promises us many answers. Let's not elevate mystery to a place where it doesn't belong. The Bible is silent on some matters, but on others it speaks very plainly. Even if we discount the ambiguous areas we have plenty to embrace as hard truth. Let's be sure to go to Scripture first for our answers and if we can't find a clear answer let's use Scripture as a basis for our answers.