Fixing my Eyes

Bible Reading: Psalm 119:9-16

“I will meditate on your precepts

and fix my eyes on your ways.

I will delight in your statutes;

I will not forget your word.” (Psalm 119:15-16)

The alarm goes off. It’s 6:58 am. That’s right, you think to yourself, the bus leaves at 7:22 am. Unwillingly you drag yourself out of bed the way slugs sludge on rainy days. Feeling indifferent, you get changed and brush your teeth. Mind blank, acting in autonomy like a robot, your body, not your brain, calls you back to sleep. Exactly twenty-four minutes into the future, and you’re sitting again on that bus. 

Ok, maybe that was a little exaggerated (or perhaps not), but you get the point. It’s the hectic mornings; they are coming back. With school just around the corner, things have to change. One of my favourite holiday habits is spending long chunky hours of my morning in God’s Word, just enjoying the time to myself. Waking up at eight or nine, then take my time before leaving my room at around ten or eleven to get on with my day. It is such a blessing to have that time. But, as school returns, the rush is back. And I’m sure we’re all in the same boat — we all struggle to find time for God’s Word.

The psalmist writes in Psalm 119:9, “How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word.” Let’s face it. School is often a challenge. Physically, we get tired. That makes us emotionally, not a hundred per cent. Eventually, it takes a toll on us spiritually as well. Five days a week seem to go by in a blur of autonomy and bland repetition. 

What is it that can keep us going? What is it that we so desperately need? The psalmist proclaims, for young men and women who want to be holy, who want to live for Christ, our most basic and fundamental need is God’s Word. Imagine not eating or drinking for a week. How weak will our physical bodies be? If our school days rush by without God’s Word, how will we ever survive? 

In verses 15 and 16, the psalmist — knowing His dependence on God’s Word — resolves to do two things: 

1. The psalmist resolves to meditate on God’s Word and fix his eyes on it.

Though it’s hard, I plead and implore you to make time for God’s Word — in the morning. Yes, you can do nighttime, but based on experience, it does not work. You’re half asleep most, basically all the time. Set at least a good thirty minutes before your hectic rush to spend time in God’s Word. It will be hard, it will take diligence and perseverance, but you need it. It’s a necessity the same way breakfast is essential. It means sleeping earlier and waking up earlier, but it is worth it. 

As we venture out into school and the world every day, the world won’t like us. Satan will try to tear us down. Without God’s Word, we won’t be able to withstand his lies. He cannot take away our salvation, but he does long to waste our time on earth with worthless lies. If we are to be pure, if we are to live wholly for Christ, we must be people of God’s Word. We must fix God’s Word as our ultimate need in life. We must come desperately each morning in search of it because only God’s Word can give life. God’s word alone is our hope each day. 

Now, meditating is not just reading; it is continually saturating ourselves in the truth of God’s Word. This does not limit us to only our mornings. What we receive in the morning, we ought to digest during the day. We ought to recall and meditate on it throughout our daily activities. Not only that, we should come back to God’s Word, again and again during the day. The key is not setting timetables or schedules. The key is understanding its necessity — understanding our utter reliance on God’s Word for life. With that, we will seek it diligently with earnestness, as the thirsty long for water. 

2. The Psalmist resolves to make God’s Word his delight.

Not only does the psalmist resolve to meditate on God’s Word, but he also resolves to find his deepest joy and satisfaction in God’s Word. We should long for the same. When our joys and hopes and fulfilment is found in God’s Word, all the more we long for it, all the more we seek for it, all the more we realise our utter dependence on it and our complete hopelessness without it. Ask God to shape such love and joy in your life. Ask God to make His Word your greatest satisfaction. 

When our love for the world faints, and our love for God grows, there, be sure that God is working, that our hearts are being changed, and God is all the more glorified. 

Lord, fix my eyes on Your Word. Please forgive my apathy towards Your Word. I have failed to understand that my life is wholly dependent on Your Word. Your words are life, and without them, I am hopeless. Lord, I want to meditate on Your Word. Please change my heart and give me a love for Your Word. Make it my greatest and only delight — to know You and enjoy You. Lord, I have given You my life. This one life is for You. Yet, how must I keep it pure without Your Word? Do not forsake me, God. Show that You are faithful by opening Your Word to me each morning. I really need it. Strengthen and hold my commitment to come to Your Word in the morning, and through reading Your Word, grow my faith that Your name may continue to be glorified through my life. In Jesus’ name, Amen.