By Dr Agnes Tan
A few years ago, I decided to go for a Lasik eye surgery. I had always worn eye glasses and contact lenses so the morning after my surgery, I was ecstatic. My eyesight had become so much clearer and as I looked outside at the garden, I could see sharp colours and detailed lines of the leaves and flowers. What a marvellous sight! And what a wonderful Creator!
Lasik surgery enabled me to see things clearly but to make wise decisions in life, I need to develop an inner 20/20 vision. In Psalm 119:18, the psalmist says “Open my eyes (Lord) to see the wonderful truths in your instructions.” This prayer describes a desire to see God’s will and also the reality of spiritual blindness. Remember the story of Balaam in Numbers 22? Hired by the king of Moab, Balaam was on his way to curse the Israelites. Because his spiritual eyes were closed, he didn’t see what was in front of him. His donkey, on the other hand, saw the angel of the Lord with a drawn sword and so he refused to move forward. Balaam beat his donkey to make him move forward until the Lord finally opened his eyes and he saw what his donkey saw. It wasn’t that the angel of the Lord wasn’t there before; it was that he was blind to the spiritual perception of it.
Have you ever had that experience with the Word of God? You’ve read it a hundred times and the warm, comforting truth of the passage has never ministered to your heart but on the hundred and first time, the Lord opens your eyes and like a powerful balm, God’s word speaks to you.
I like to use commentaries when I don’t understand the Bible but in times like this I have to remind myself to not just read commentaries, but to ask God to open my eyes so that I may see wonderful things in His Word. The psalmist knows that the thing he needs the most is a word from God and that word is in God’s Word. He doesn’t want to miss it and neither should we.
Finally, as you begin to study His Word, you grow in holiness and joy—these two are inseparably joined. As you immerse yourself in God’s word, check yourself in the mirror. Are you growing in holiness and joy? Blessed are those whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the Lord … who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart (Ps 119:1-2).