Consumed With Longing for the Word of God

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

Psalm 119:18

In this longest chapter in the Bible, we find great praise to God for his Word, the Bible. Psalm 119 has 176 verses with a primary focus on the greatness of the law, testimonies, precepts, statutes, commandments, rules, and words of God. It is and immense work that can be meditated on for a lifetime without exhausting it's content. Charles Spurgeon wrote 349 pages on this Psalm alone in his Treasury of David. In the 18^th verse of this Psalm, the Psalmist begs for his eyes to be open so that he may behold wondrous things out of the law of God. He has a passion in his pursuit to know God through his Word. His soul is consumed with longing for the Word (v.20), he delights in his testimonies and seeks council from them (v.24), his soul longs for the words of life (v.25), he meditates on the wondrous works of God (v.27), and he clings to the testimonies of God (v.31). He begs God to teach him (v.33), give him understanding (v.34), lead him (v.35), incline his heart (v.36), turn his eyes from worthless things (v.37), confirm his promise (v.38), and to turn him away reproach (v.39). He longs for the precepts of God and the life that comes from them. His attitude toward the Word of God leads him to trust in his Word (v.42). Is this our attitude toward the Word of God? Do we hunger and thirst for is? Do we long to read it the moment we wake up each morning? How different would our lives be if our attitude was like the Psalmist's? How much would we be transformed to the Bible if we passionately pursed understanding it. Meditating on the word should only drive us deeper into the Word. The more we read the Bible, the more we will want to. Today we must be resolved to cry out to God to open our eyes, to give us a longing for the Word so that we delight in it and are changed by it. Our soul must long for the very words of life more than our body longs for food.