One of the pitfalls of close Bible study is that we can get to the point where simple fascination with the hunt for meaning edges out love and delight in God and his truth. We are so close to the truth, but seeing, we do not see (Mark 4:12). Judas, one of Jesus’s twelve disciples, walked with him for three years and, at the end of it, still loved money more than the excellency of Christ.

The answer to this problem is not to close our minds and try to meditate blindly on God. God is not honored unless we see him as he has revealed himself in his word. So, how do we avoid this pitfall? We pray.

In this video, John Piper walks through one such prayer for “the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge” of God, expounding what Paul asked for his Ephesian readers, and by implication, for us today (Ephesians 1:17).

Look at the Book is John Piper’s effort to help teach people to read the Bible for themselves. It’s an ongoing series of 8–12 minute videos in which the camera is on the text, not the teacher.

As part of this initiative, Desiring God has partnered with local churches for regional events focused on particular passages of Scripture. This is Part 9 in a series on Ephesians called “Seeing and Savoring the Splendor of God’s Sovereign Grace.”