A podcast listener named Caleb writes in to ask this, Pastor John, what do you do when

you find yourself bored of reading the Bible?

I pray my little acronym or a cross-tick, what do we call it, I-O-U-S-I-O-U's, and I

say this to only because I take unbelievably strong encouragement from the fact that the

Psalmist had to pray this way, that it isn't just the person who asked that question, Caleb,

or me who struggled with feeling excited about the Bible, but the Psalmist did.

So here's my I-O-U-S-I, incline my heart to your testimonies and not to get engaged

to Psalm 119, verse 36. Isn't that amazing? That's amazing, that the Psalmist would ask God

to incline his heart to the Word. What, you're not inclined to the Bible sometimes, Mr.

Psalmist? Or, O, open my eyes that I may see wonderful things out of your Word, Psalm

119, verse 18. So the Psalmist can go to the Word and not see anything, just like we can

stare at a page and some days the pages are blank and we feel horrible because of how

insensitive we are. So we join the Psalmist and praying, O, God, open my eyes. And then

you, I-O-U, unite my heart to fear your name, Psalm 186-11, where my heart is all fragmented,

it's going in every direction. I'm looking at a fly on the wall or hearing something in

my driveway and I get distracted in a hundred ways and the Psalmist does too and he's pleading,

oh, God, get my heart together so it can focus, I-O-U, and then maybe the most important

one of all, satisfy me in the morning with your steadfast love, Psalm 94, verse 11. So that's

what I do. Caleb, I join the Psalmist in pleading, incline my heart, open my eyes, unite my heart,

satisfy my heart. Oh, God, don't leave me in this, in this season of boredom or blankness or

deadness. And then I got a, I got a long list of other things I do. But let me just take them off.

I won't linger over them long because I think that right there is probably the most important thing.

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