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Open My Eyes

Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law.” – Psalm 119:18

How Do You Read the Bible?

There are several things we can do to make sure we have the clearest understanding of God’s Word.

  • Read multiple translations of a text and read editor notes. When creating a translation, decisions have to be made and those decisions can obscure the full meaning of a passage. By reading multiple translations and the editor’s notes, you can get a more complete understanding. Of course, better still would be to learn Biblical Greek and Hebrew.
  • Read the surrounding context. No Biblical passage exists in isolation and when we pull a passage out of its context, it makes it possible to misunderstand it. So, read the surrounding paragraph, section, or even chapter to make sure you understand the context of a passage.
  • Read the Bible more. The context of any passage isn’t just the paragraph, chapter, or book. Scripture interprets Scripture. The more familiar you are with the whole of Scripture, the better you can understand the full context of any passage within the Bible.

The One Thing You Need
All of the above ideas are helpful for your study of God’s Word, but in the end it will be all meaningless without the Holy Spirit. Without the Spirit revealing God’s Word to us, we are blind to it. We need God to open our eyes so that we can truly see what His Word tells us.

But, as it is written, ‘What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him’—these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.

The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. ‘For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?’ But we have the mind of Christ.” – 1 Corinthians 2:9-16

We need God’s Spirit to truly understand God’s Word. So, let us pray. Let us pray for wisdom and insight. Let us pray for faith. Let us pray for God to open our eyes to understand His Word.

Heavenly Father,

Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in Your Word. Give me faith, understanding, wisdom, and insight. Teach me Your ways.

Amen.

In Christ’s Service,

Pastor Kurt