Thoughts for the Day

Your decrees are wonderful;
therefore my soul keeps them.
The unfolding of your words gives light;
it imparts understanding to the simple.
With open mouth I pant,
because I long for your commandments.
Turn to me and be gracious to me,
as is your custom towards those who love your name.
Keep my steps steady according to your promise,
and never let iniquity have dominion over me.
Redeem me from human oppression,
that I may keep your precepts.
Make your face shine upon your servant,
and teach me your statutes.
My eyes shed streams of tears
because your law is not kept.

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

I decided to spend half an hour in a comfortable chair reading the novel I had started a few days previously. Happily ensconced in a 1920's detective story with the heroine running rings round the local police, I suddenly heard 'noises off' - dinner was about to be ready! Later that evening I picked up the book again, but struggled to read the small print with my glasses on. Thinking the light was poor, I gave up and went to bed. It wasn't until the next day that I realised I had been wearing the wrong glasses. Perhaps I should stick with my Kindle with its bright light and ability to enlarge text!.

Psalm 119 (v's 129-136) says 'The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple.' This amazing psalm which gives every synonym for "law" and in this passage alone uses five: ie "decrees", "words", "commandments", "precepts" and "statutes", reminds us that if we don't look at God's word it won't teach us anything. The word "unfolding" means "opening" as in a door or as indeed our minds. On that first Easter day when Jesus walked beside the two men on the road to Emmaus and taught them they were to say "were not our hearts burning within us ... while he was opening the scriptures to us?" (Luke 24.13-34). Something similar happens when Philip asks the Ethiopian eunuch if he understands the book of Isaiah that he is reading and then explains the prophecy to him. (Acts 8.26-39).

Wearing the wrong glasses didn't shed any light on reading my novel! Owning a bible (or knowing you have it online) is also no good if it's never opened, or never explained. But opening the scriptures and understanding them will surely illuminate our journey of life as it brings us closer to God.

Holy Spirit,
You breathed over our scriptures
to impart wisdom and knowledge
to all who seek You,
make us so want to learn more
and follow the light of Your truth
that we make it a priority
to spend time with Your word.
Amen.