“. . . Look with your eyes, and hear with your ears, and set your heart upon all that I shall show you . . .” (Ezek. 40:4).
When Scripture speaks, God speaks. That’s why it’s called the Word of God. Nothing in life is more important than God’s revelation to us.
Scripture is necessary for salvation, because “faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17).
Scripture is necessary for spiritual vitality, for “man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4; cf. Deut. 8:3).
Scripture is necessary for knowing God’s will. “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law” (Deut. 29:29).
Since nothing is more vital than God’s Word, it deserves our full attention. “Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it” (Heb. 2:1).
So God says: “Look with your eyes, and hear with your ears, and set your heart upon all that I shall show you” (Ezek. 40:4). Though spoken initially to Ezekiel, these are God’s words to us as well. The activity of the eyes, ears, and heart indicate that we are to be fully engaged with God’s Word.
We’re all familiar with the abbreviation I.O.U. Well, John Piper uses the plural form (I.O.U.S.) as an acronym to ready his heart to receive God’s Word. I have found this to be helpful as well, which is why I’m sharing it with you.
I - “Incline my heart to your testimonies and not to selfish gain” (Ps. 119:36). Matt Smethurst remarked, “Every day I need to be peeled away from my pathetic preoccupation with self. You do too. Thankfully, God loves to de-magnetize our hearts from what is worthless, and re-magnetize them toward what is priceless, all for the sake of our joy. This is where prayer comes in; we just have to ask.”
O - “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law” (Ps. 119:18). The Bible is like no other book. It’s one thing to read it with the eyes of our head (which we can do with any book), it’s an altogether different thing to read it with the eyes of our heart. Thankfully, the Holy Spirit who produced these words (2 Pet. 1:22) enables believers to comprehend them (1 Cor. 2:10-13). All we have to do is ask.
U - “Unite my heart to fear your name” (Ps. 86:11). Once again, Smethurst notes, “We must pray earnestly for a united heart, lest it drift toward being divided, distracted, and distant from the words of the living God.”
S - “Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love” (Ps. 90:14). The problem isn’t just that our hearts are distracted from God; they are also dissatisfied in God. We get fooled into thinking that happiness is found elsewhere. That’s why we need the Lord to satisfy us with his unfailing love. He is our all in all. As C. S. Lewis wrote so eloquently in his book, The Weight of Glory, “He who has God and everything else has no more than he who has God only.”
So when you open your Bible, be all there, because that’s where God himself meets you — and there’s no better place to be.