Open My Eyes

Well, here we are at the start of, whoa, I'm booming, a new year.

And the new year is often the time that we look back on how we've lived

and we think about how we want to change in the year ahead

and maybe some new habits that we want to incorporate into our lives.

And if you haven't already done that, I want to encourage you to set aside some time this week

for prayer, for meditation, for reflection on this past year.

And I want to encourage you to set some worthy goals for this year ahead.

It's not a Bible quote, but it's one of my favorites.

If you aim at nothing, you'll hit it every time.

So let's live with purpose in this year ahead.

What do you hope to accomplish in 2023?

How do you hope to grow in this year ahead?

A few weeks back, I encouraged all of us to spend countless hours in God's Word in 2023,

reading and meditating on what He said in the Bible.

And I shared with you five benefits that come into our lives through God's Word.

Just a quick recap.

I talked about how God's Word is at the heart of our relationship with Him.

We talked about how the Bible is the place where our faith grows.

Faith comes by hearing the Word of God.

We talked about how it's where we find everything we need for life and godliness.

We talked about how God's Word is full of very great and precious promises.

And we talked about how it's full of the instructions that we need to stand firm in this year ahead,

but also for the rest of our lives.

And at the end of that message on December 11th,

I encourage you all to take a Bible reading plan from the table at the back.

We now have those Bible reading plans on the mailbox table if you haven't got one yet.

And I encourage you to resolve to read through God's Word this year.

Or if that's a big commitment, then to even just read through the New Testament,

whatever fits where you're at in your faith journey.

This morning is going to be kind of a part two to that message.

That message is kind of the motivating message.

Why should we do this?

What's the benefit to reading God's Word?

But this morning, I want to just get really practical and talk about how we do this.

Maybe some of you haven't read through the Bible in its entirety before.

Or maybe you've tried, but then kind of lost your drive getting into some of those difficult books of the Bible.

Leviticus or Numbers or some of the genealogies.

And it could be just that maybe reading is not your thing.

Maybe you struggle with reading and it's just not something that you really enjoy doing.

So this morning's message, I hope, will be very practical.

I'm not going to be explaining a passage of Scripture.

But I'll be sharing with you a few of the helpful things that I've learned over the years.

Just about getting the most out of your time in God's Word.

So let's start by talking about frequency.

Making a daily habit of spending time in God's Word is key.

And it's important for two reasons.

First, the Bible is a big book.

And if you just look at that whole book or how much you're able to read in one day,

you might think, man, I'm never going to make it through this thing.

Reading the Bible is almost like eating an elephant.

And as the saying goes, the best way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time.

But don't let the size of this book deter you.

To get through this book in a year, you'll need to break it down into little pieces.

And so a daily habit will do the trick.

But there's another reason to make daily Bible reading a habit.

You want to get through the Bible.

You want to achieve that goal of reading through it.

But even more important than that,

every time you open the Bible and read,

you're engaging in relationship with God.

You're putting yourself into the place where He speaks to you.

Where you hear from Him.

And if spending time in God's Word is about relationship with God,

then this is a good thing to do daily.

Not just once in a while.

The more often that you take time to slow down

and listen to God in His Word, the better.

The more your relationship with Him will grow.

One author refers to Bible reading as a habit of grace.

Along with prayer, it's one of those habits through which God gives to us.

So how often do you want to receive from God?

Do you want to open yourself up to His grace every day?

Then I want to encourage you to just make it a daily habit.

One of your core things that you do every day throughout the year.

I think of Jesus and the time that He was tempted in the wilderness by the devil.

How did He answer that first temptation of the devil?

When the devil tempted Him to turn stones into bread for His hungry stomach.

Matthew 4 verse 4.

Matthew 4:4

He said,

I often think about this.

Jesus hadn't eaten in 40 days.

Just imagine that feeling in your stomach.

And here He is telling the devil that more important than food for His hungry stomach

is food for His soul.

The sustenance that comes from above.

God's Word.

If you think back to that prayer that Jesus taught us to pray,

He encouraged us to ask the Father for our daily bread.

And there I think just a general reference to provision and even to food.

But how much more should we seek the words that come from the mouth of God on a daily basis

if we need them even more than we need food?

Another author likened Bible reading and prayer to spiritual breathing.

And I've always liked kind of his thoughts on this.

He said,

reading God's Word is like breathing in.

And prayer is like breathing out.

It's like taking air into your lungs and all the benefit and life that you get from doing that.

For your body, reading the Bible is like that for your soul.

It's at the heart of our spiritual life and it's something that we need to do constantly.

As a matter of habit again and again.

Just to be spiritually healthy and to enjoy the spiritual life and relationship that God has for us.

So make it a daily habit to just take time to read your Bible.

Now most of us have probably heard that before.

What happens though if you miss a day?

Or two?

Or three?

Or even more?

Or inevitably life happens and each day is somewhat unpredictable.

If you live with your family you will find yourself interrupted.

Or if you're traveling somewhere you'll get off your routine and maybe you'll get sick or something.

I had a number of days last year where my first waking moment was a parenting moment.

And before I knew it there I was laying my head down after going from one urgent responsibility to the next.

The day was over and I had missed my time with God and the word.

That happens because life is dynamic.

It's full of surprises.

It's unpredictable.

I want to encourage you not to beat yourself up over missing a daily habit.

This kind of thing happens.

Don't be discouraged.

Just do what you can to get back at it tomorrow.

The best thing we can do is just to press on with it.

Sometimes if we've missed quite a number of days.

We might look at the Bible reading plan and see that we've fallen behind.

But don't worry about it.

Just press on.

Keep going.

The devil would love to discourage you here.

He'd love to say,

See?

You're not a good Christian.

You've fallen behind.

You can't even read your Bible every day like you're supposed to.

So might as well give up altogether and stop reading it altogether.

You'll never make it through to the end.

But don't listen to the devil.

Don't give in to that doubt and discouragement in your own heart.

This is the time to remember why you're trying to read the Bible each day in the first place.

It's not just about checking off boxes from the Bible reading plan.

It's about connecting with God each day.

It's about opening yourself up to His grace and to His power.

Last year, one of my goals from the start of the year was to read through a very challenging book.

Not the Bible, but a book to help me read the Bible better.

And it was a struggle.

And I fell behind in my plan.

And things got busy on more than one occasion.

And because it wasn't the core, most important habit like reading my Bible is,

I had to let it go for a couple weeks here and there.

And then eventually I got to November and I just felt like I can't keep going on this.

And so I let it go for the rest of the last year.

I just kind of gave up on it.

But I always have had the intention to get back.

I'm going to finish that book in this new year.

My goal was to read the whole thing.

And I only managed to get through three quarters of it.

But just because I didn't finish it doesn't mean that I didn't benefit from all that I did read in it all the way through.

And reading the Bible is like that.

There's such great benefit in it every time you do it.

So even if you miss some days, the best thing you can do is just keep going with it.

Keep at it.

Every time you spend time with God and His Word is a chance to grow.

It's a chance to be strengthened.

It's a chance to hear wisdom from God.

Now, there are some ways that you can catch up if you fall behind in your Bible reading plan.

And in one sense, you can't make up for those times that you chose poorly to, you know, scroll through some kind of online feed instead of reading your Bible.

But you can catch up in the plan and continue to hear the things that you've missed.

This is where smartphones are such a helpful thing.

There are all kinds of free apps, which some of you may have.

If you don't have any, you can just go onto your app store.

You can type in Bible or Audio Bible.

And the Audio Bible is a great way to catch up on the plan.

You can listen to longer portions of Scripture all at once while you're driving on the highway.

Or while you're doing some kind of a task that just doesn't involve a lot of concentration.

And I use this probably almost every year to catch up or to make progress if I've fallen behind in a certain book.

One of my favorite ways to use it is when I get to some of those chapters that are full of names that are difficult to pronounce.

Why do all the hard work of having to figure each one out when you can just have somebody read it to you and listen to it?

So that's one of the things I like to do.

And you can get all kinds of these Audio Bibles.

My personal favorite is a dramatized one that's kind of almost voice acted.

You can find these apps or you can download an Audible audiobook app and pick whatever one you like,

whatever translation you want to listen to.

While we're on the topic of smartphones, let's talk about reading the Bible on your phone.

I don't know how many of you do this or have thought of doing this or where you're at with this,

but I always discourage people from using their phones to read their Bibles and to spend time with God.

Unless you find yourself in a situation where it's all you've got,

choose a paper copy of the Bible over your smartphone.

The reasons are many.

Smartphones are full of distractions.

They give us all kinds of notifications.

Ding, ding, ding.

All day long.

And that's the last thing that we need when we're trying to focus on what God is saying

and hear from Him in His Word.

I don't know about you, but many times I just open it up

and I see all this glow and all these little red thingy, badges,

saying, click here, press here.

And before you know it, I forget why I even pulled the phone out in the first place

because I'm off doing something else.

These apps are designed to get your attention and to draw you in.

And so I would encourage you to use a paper copy of the Bible if possible.

You might think about spending time with God each day like pruning a tree.

And you need to do some sawing on a good-sized branch.

Are you going to choose the saw blade from this massive Swiss Army knife?

That's kind of what your smartphone is.

It's a multi-tool.

It does a lot of things.

Or are you going to choose the tool that's made just to do what you need to do?

Which one's going to be more effective?

Which one's going to help you make real progress and really do what you want to do?

Smartphones are like this Swiss Army knife.

You just turn it on and you get so taken in with all the different options and choices

before you know it, you don't even know why you're in there anymore.

So I'll encourage you to use your paper Bibles.

Why bring that unnecessary distraction into your time alone with God?

Others may try and read their Bibles while watching TV.

I don't know if any of you are in that spot.

I would encourage you, don't do that.

Inevitably, you end up watching more TV than you do listening to what God has to say.

This is a bad idea.

Think about it.

How would you feel if you were trying to talk to someone and they're there just staring at the TV,

watching it, and kind of every now and then looking back at you to kind of give you the sense that they're listening.

But really, they're more tuned into the TV.

And that's kind of how it is when we try to multitask and do these other things while listening to God,

while reading our Bibles.

So try to eliminate distractions.

Try to get focused just on God and His Word.

And use a paper Bible.

I want to just encourage you with that.

While we're on the subject of focus and being undistracted,

let's talk about what kind of paper Bible you should use in your time reading God's Word.

I want to strongly encourage you not to read your Bible for your daily time with God from a study Bible.

Now, this might sound a little weird,

but you guys probably have experienced what I'm about to tell you about here.

If you have a study Bible, I brought one.

And it's a wonderful tool.

There's so many good things in here.

But just look on the page.

How much of this is the Word of God?

And how much of this is the Word of man?

This little piece right here,

I've seen somewhere, it's just a teeny little, almost two sentences at the top,

and the rest is all just comments.

It's just this little bit up here,

and the rest is all just commentary.

Now, commentaries are good.

They're helpful.

Cross-references can be helpful.

But oftentimes, they are a form of distraction too.

I mean, you think about it.

Who wrote these comments?

Well, some scholar.

Some Bible scholar, and they're good things.

I have a single volume commentary here on the letters of John.

First, second, third John.

This was written by a man named Colin Cruz.

But if you think about it, I mean,

is that how you want to read God's Word?

I mean, you're there to hear from Him,

to listen to His heart.

And sometimes we get into that trap where we, you know,

spend 60 seconds reading two or three verses of what He has said,

but then we spend 59 minutes reading all the stuff that Colin Cruz has to say

at the bottom of the page.

And instead of meditating on what God has said,

we're spending more time thinking Colin Cruz's thoughts about what God has said.

Now, there is a place for study and commentaries,

but oftentimes these things distract us.

And so I would encourage you to just use a plain old Bible

that just has the text of God's Word in it.

Just read it.

And maybe after you're kind of through that time

and you spend some time in prayer,

if you've got questions or things you don't know,

pull out a good commentary and look in there,

or the Bible atlas and look in there.

But don't let the thoughts of other people short-circuit

your chance to hear from God each day.

When I read my Bible, I like a copy that has just God's words in it,

maybe a few translators' notes at the bottom.

And I save the commentaries and the study Bibles

and the Bible atlas for at the end,

if I've got some extra time to delve into some questions

or I'm confused about something.

So get yourself a copy of the Word of God

without all the extras and the notes.

And, you know, I'm going to just tell you something.

This is a statistic I'm just making up out of thin air

right off my feelings, so don't take it too seriously.

But most of the time, isn't it true

that the commentary in the study Bible

just tells you what you already know

or what you could already have figured out

just by reading the passage?

Or if you have a question,

you read in those little comments in there,

and it doesn't really answer your question.

It tells you about all sorts of other things,

but it just doesn't have the answer

to the question you have.

I feel like for me that's like 85% of the time.

So, you know, get yourself a good commentary

and a good atlas,

but save those for times of study.

Let's talk about translations for a minute here.

I'm not going to go into great detail here

about the strengths and weaknesses

of various Bible translations.

I did that in my sermon on March 7th, 2021.

That was the big,

why are there verses missing in my Bible conversation?

So if you want to know about that

or be reminded of that,

you can go on the website and look that sermon up.

But I will say that the best translation

for everyday Bible reading

is one that you can understand

and read with relative ease.

I know some of you prefer the translation

that you've grown up with

or use for many years,

but if you have to stop and look up words

in the dictionary every other verse,

then you're probably not making a lot of progress.

Or you're just,

it makes it more difficult

to get to the meaning of the Word of God.

I'm guessing most of you that are in that boat

simply would skip over those words anyway

or just guess at what they mean from the context.

But choose a modern translation

that's easy to read and understand,

one that doesn't turn your time of prayer

and meditation

into a study of English vocab and grammar.

This is a time for relating with God.

It's about listening to His heart.

And there's tremendous value

when you come to that point

where you want to do some study

to comparing translations,

using some of those more word-for-word translations.

But I always save that for deeper study on a passage

when I'm looking for specific answers

to specific questions.

Here's a simple test that you can do

to evaluate whether the translation

you're reading from is easy

and readable enough for you.

Try just reading through a chapter

of the Bible aloud.

And if you can read through a chapter smoothly

and you're not getting hung up

on where to put the pauses

and where to take the breaths

and how to pronounce those words

that you just don't see very often,

then you're probably good to go

and have got a good one in front of you.

Some of those older ones

or some of the word-for-word ones

are just better for study.

One of the challenges that we often face

with daily Bible reading is consistency.

I think we all know that it's a worthwhile habit,

but the busyness of life

often ends up just choking out

our time with God and His Word.

So how can we make this a daily habit

when everything else in life

is crowding in,

trying to swallow up that time and space?

Well, here's what I've learned

when it comes to daily habits.

The most important daily habits in life

have to be guarded.

We have to put in effort

to protect the time

and the place

and the space

for them each day.

This means blocking out time for them.

It means refusing to schedule things

at that time

when you plan to meet with God

or do other important habits.

If the best time for you

to read your Bible

is in the morning

and you're constantly battling fatigue

and you can't keep your eyes open,

it probably means

that you need to start

consistently setting yourself

an earlier bedtime

and getting to bed earlier.

That's a way of guarding the habit.

Another way we guard this habit

is by seeking

undistracted solitude.

Finding a consistent place

where we can just be alone

to read and pray.

I was just reading this morning

in Mark chapter 1.

Mark 1 · chapter mention

Jesus did this.

He went out

and he got alone

so that he could focus,

so that he could pray,

so that he wasn't constantly

being interrupted

by the crowds.

And so we should

seek solitude as well.

This may take some careful thought

and planning

and even continual effort.

I kind of have it easy

because I can just kind of

come to the church here

and before I start my work

I can have that quiet space

right here in the office

at the church.

But I didn't always have that.

When I lived in Edmonton

and worked for FedEx,

I didn't have any space.

We had this tiny little basement suite

and so I would get up

and get to work

an hour before work started

and I would sit there

in my Shev Malibu

with the windows rolled up

and in the winter

with it going a little bit

to keep myself warm

and that's where I had

my time with the Lord.

It was the most private place

that I could find consistently.

It was always there.

And I got the odd

funny look from a co-worker

but then I noticed

there were some other co-workers

who were showing up early

just to listen to music

before work started too.

So I mean it wasn't

all that weird to them.

But these kind of habits

they need to be guarded.

And so I just want to encourage you

and ask you

what do you need to do

to guard your time

with God and His Word?

Is it about the place?

Is it about the time of day?

Are there other habits

that need to kind of

come together with it

such as going to bed earlier

or just getting out of the house

for that time?

Are there things you need

to do to your space

to make it less distracting?

Are there too much stuff

in the place where you meet

with God that every time

you go there you just

oh man I got to work

on this thing here?

Another thing that's helpful

when establishing new habits

this is not a biblical thing

but it's just something

that I've learned from experience

and from others who

have studied these things

you can incorporate your senses.

And these things

are not necessary

but they can be really helpful.

They can be very powerful.

Whenever I need to reset

my Bible reading habits

after vacation

I like to do two things.

I get here to the office

I light a candle

that I like the fragrance of

and I put a pot of coffee on

or in my case Keurig

and I can't explain why

but these things

that bring in our other senses

they just often help

with establishing habits.

They become part of our routine

and there's just something

pleasing about those things

that appeal to my subconscious.

The moment I open my office door

I see the candle

and I'm just

yes let's light that up

let's get the coffee going

and let's open the word

and have that time with the Lord.

So maybe there's some

of those things

that you can incorporate

as well into your time

with the Lord.

All of these things

are helpful things

but there's one thing

that's been more helpful

to me than anything else

and it's I believe

one of the great keys

to having intimacy

with God

in his word.

And I learned this practice

from Psalm 119

119 verse 18.

It's a prayer

to God

most likely from David

and it's simply this

open my eyes

that I may see

wonderful things

in your law.

I believe this is

one of the greatest secrets

to having rich

and meaningful time

with God

while you read

his Bible.

A simple prayer

that you pray

before you start.

how do you begin

your Bible

reading time

when you read?

Do you look at

the reading plan

and then look at the clock

and then look at the passage

and decide whether or not

you want to read it

and what kind of passage

this is?

Or do you just start

with a moment of quiet

and prayer

and pray something

like this

open my eyes

that I may see

wonderful things

in your law?

One day as I was reading

through Psalm 119

it struck me

that this is a model prayer.

It's not just a prayer

for super spiritual people

like King David.

The reason it's in the Bible

is to teach us

how we too

should approach

the word of God.

And what do we see here

in this

just this simple

request?

There's a deep humility.

It's like the psalmist

is admitting

his own inability

even to connect with

and see

and feel

the wonderful things

in God's law.

It's like he's saying

my eyes are closed

to those things

and I can't see them

God

without your help.

Would you open my eyes

to see them?

There's also a childlike

faith here.

The psalmist is trusting

and believing

that there are

wonderful things

in there

in the law

in those things

that God has spoken.

I may not be able

to see them right now

I feel cold

I feel unawake

to them at the moment

but I know

that they're there

not just helpful things

not just true things

but wonderful things.

And let's remember

that the psalmist

is talking about the law

like this is the first

five books of the Bible.

I think we need

to come to God's word

with this same faith

every time we open

the Bible.

We may not be feeling it

we may feel cold

unstirred

our hearts might not

be in it

but if we come

with that faith

there are wonderful

things in there

that my soul needs.

I think that's the way.

And finally

there's a request here

it's just a humble

and sincere admission

that God

unless you do

something in my heart

I won't see it.

I won't hear

those wonderful things

that you have to say

to me.

I'll just read it

and I'll be cool

I'll be unstirred

and so

it's like he's crying out

God do that work

of grace in me

open my eyes

that I might see

those wonderful things

in your word.

I pray this

or something similar

to this every time

I sit down

to read God's word

and I believe

that it almost

I believe that

every insight

and all the wisdom

that I've received

from my time

in God's word

every truth

I've come to believe

has come in response

to this simple prayer

that I pray every day.

What was it

that Jesus said

time and time again

to the crowds

to the people

that he taught

to his disciples

he who has ears

to hear

let him hear.

Now why did he

say that so much?

What response

was he looking for

from the people?

He was looking

for people to listen

and not just to listen

but to really listen

to really hear

the word of God

that he was speaking

and at the same time

he was pointing out

that not everyone

has this ability

by default.

There's a certain blindness

there's a certain deafness

there's a certain

distractedness

that we are all prone to

because of the sinfulness

of our hearts

because of the world

that we live in

because of our

sometimes the stubbornness

of our hearts

and so we must come

humbly to God

and pray

open my eyes

that I may see

wonderful things

in your word

give me ears

to hear

that I may hear

what you're saying

to me

that it won't just

kind of hit me

and just go in

and out the other side

help me to really hear it

and if there's nothing else

you adopt

from this morning's message

I hope it's this simple prayer

that you learn

to pray this

afresh

from your heart

each day

before you open

God's word

and I promise

this prayer

will change your life

it will change

every time

you come to

God's word

it will transform

the way that you

see the Bible

over time

you'll see it

come alive to you

more and more

and God

will answer it

he will do that

he will give you

the eyes to see

what's in there

that you need

a couple

final practical ways

to get the most

out of your

countless hours

with God

in his word

this year

and these are

two things to try

maybe new

to some of you

the first is something

that very few of us do

read out loud

this may seem strange

but if you can find

a good quiet place

where you're alone

and not waking

somebody else up

in your house

I want to encourage

you to read your Bible

out loud

as much as possible

read it with your

full voice

if it's narrative

read it like you're

the one telling the story

if it's dialogue

read it the way

that you imagine

the words would have

been spoken

in that moment

by that person

this has been

another hugely

helpful practice

it forces you

to read properly

it forces you

to think through

the words

it forces you

to slow down

it forces you

to think about

what's the emphasis

in the way

that this was said

this question

this statement

it involves

more of you

in the reading

of God's word

it's not just

you seeing

and thinking

about it

on the page

but it's you seeing

thinking

speaking

and hearing

all at the same time

and

you know

what tone of voice

was used

when he said that

there's all kinds

of dimensions

that come alive

when you read it

out loud

and on top of all that

it makes you

a better reader

so I would encourage

you to try it

don't worry about

what the people

in that other room

over there are thinking

just go for it

it'll bless their heart

to hear you

reading God's word

out loud

and maybe

they'll start

doing it too

one final practice

this is one

that I've found

tremendously helpful

in the past

I still use it

occasionally

but I don't do

I don't do it

every day

but many people

have found it

helpful to journal

as they read

through God's word

to take time

to just write out

their thoughts

about what they're

reading

or their prayers

just straight to God

as they're

as they're reading

it's a wonderful

and helpful practice

for spending time

with God

especially if you

find it difficult

to focus

sometimes I'm

just so tired

I got a bad

sleep last night

and I can barely

think two straight

thoughts in a row

and I'm off

into la la land

over thinking

about this

this is a way

that helps me

focus

I just open up

the page

and I start writing

and if I get lost

in thought

I look back

at the page

and oh

that's where I was

and I can just

keep going

and eventually

I do get into

that zone

where I'm focused

and I'm concentrated

and I'm connecting

with the Lord

in prayer

and thinking about

the things that

he has said

so that's a good

thing to try too

if you haven't done

that or if you've

let it go by the

wayside

I encourage you

to think about

journaling

there's another way

to do this

that's really helpful

too

sometimes you can

find these

series of questions

that help bring out

the meaning of the

passage

some people like

to take three or

four of those

questions

and just the same

questions every day

and just write out

the answers to those

questions

what does this

passage mean

what is God saying

about himself

what does it reveal

about who he is

what does he want me

to do in response

to this

and sometimes

just taking the time

to slow down

and write out

some of those

thoughts

as you're reading

God's word

can make all the

difference

in just unlocking

the treasures

that are there

so those are

a few things

that I wanted

to just share

with you

today on the

first day of the

year

and I want

to encourage

you

let's go to

the word

as a church

and let's feed

let's feast

let's grow

I'm really looking

forward to it

and I hope that

you are too

let's pray

Father in heaven

thank you that you

have given us

your word

what a privilege

it is

and I pray

that we would

be stirred

again and again

this year

as we go to

the Bible

I ask that you

would transform

every one of our

lives

so that we are

markedly different

people by the end

of this year

than we were

at the start

more like Jesus

full of love

full of grace

full of truth

and full of the

wisdom that we need

we just commit

this year

and this habit

to you

and ask for your

help with it

in Jesus name

amen

amen

amen

amen

amen