Be generous with me and I'll live a full life; not for a minute will I take my eyes off your road.
Open my eyes so I can see what you show me of your miracle-wonders.
I'm a stranger in these parts; give me clear directions.
My soul is starved and hungre, ravenous!--insatiable for your nourishing commands.
And those who think they know so much, ignoring everything you tell them--let them have it!
Don't let them mock and humiliate me; I've been careful to do just what you said.
While bad neighbors maliciously gossip about me, I'm absorbed in pondering your wise counsel.
Yes, your sayings on life are what give me delight; I listen to them as to good neighbors!
I'm feeling terrible--I couldn't feel worse! Get me on my feet again. You promised, remember?
When I told my story, you responded; train me well in your deep wisdom.
Help me understand these things inside and out so I can ponder your miracle-wonders.
My sad life's dilapidated, a falling-down barn; build me up again by your Word.
Barricade the road that goes Nowhere; grace me with your clear revelation.
"Having acknowledged that power to keep the law is imparted to men by God, he, at the same time, adds, that every man is blind, until he also enlighten the eyes of his understanding. Admitting that God gives light to us by his word, the prophet here means that we are blind amid the clearest light, until he remove the veil from our eyes."
(Commentary from Heart Aflame: Daily Readings from Calvin on the Psalms)
"Passing on the Trust"
2 Timothy 2:1-2
Reading from the English Standard Version
You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.
All of us are called to be faithful to God through our lives and through whatever kind of suffering or trials we may encounter. Yet, each person's temptations towards unfaithfulness vary, depending on their vocation. Pastors, teacher, and elders might face the temptation to water down the gospel in order to make it more "appealing." We see this happening on a large scale in today's world. "Many churches encourage their pastors to dilute the Word of God, at least implicitly, in their drive to measure success by the number of people sitting in the pews." I can tell you right now that our church would never dream of doing that. We desire the Word of God to be taught purely, and we are about ministry, not crowd-pleasing. God will grow the church as he sees fit.
Paul is aware of these temptations, so he tells Timothy to entrust the truth to "faithful men." "The true church is found where the gospel is preached faithfully, where leaders carefully guard the oracles of God, and where care is taken to make sure only qualified men preach the Word."
"Faith and Holiness"
Hebrews 11:8
Reading from the English Standard Version
By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.
The writer of Hebrews seems to repeatedly use faith and obedience interchangeably. There were Old Testament people who were said to never enter God's rest because of disobedience, yet they were also said to not be able to enter because of their unbelief (Hebrews 3:18-19).
The "heroes of faith" mentioned in Hebrews 11 all lived by faith. And they were obedient. "They obeyed by faith. And since obedience is the pathway to holiness--a holy life being essentially an obedient life--we may say that no one will become holy apart from a life of faith."
Faith enables us to obey the commands of God. It enables us to obey even when the obedience seems costly or unreasonable. Remember Abraham and Isaac?
"The path of obedience in the pursuit of holiness is often contrary to human reason." We must have confidence that this is God's will for us.
Thank you for opening my eyes, Father. You could have left me blinded. But you chose to open mine. Now help me remain faithful to the end.
Grace and peace, friends.