“Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path.”
—Psalm 119:105
What guides you in your decision making? Is it your feelings or maybe the popular opinion in our culture? Many professing Christians live this way, but neither feelings nor popular opinion are reliable in making decisions because they both err and constantly change. We need something sure, dependable, unchanging, and constant — we need something that will guide us infallibly. What we need is God’s Word. That is why David wrote, “Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105).
What does it mean that Scripture is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path and why do we need such a light? The idea of a pathway through a dark forest helps us understand our need for a lamp that brings light. There can be many dangers walking down a dark pathway. There is the danger of being disoriented and losing your sense of direction, especially if the path is not familiar, and without a light to guide us, we will get lost. Another danger in walking down a dark pathway is an object lying in the path that can cause us to stumble and fall. On a dark path, without a light to guide us, we cannot see the dangers ahead, so a lamp is necessary to guide us.
The same is true concerning our spiritual walk. When the psalmist speaks of his path, he is referring to his life from the viewpoint of a spiritual pathway. All the events of life are compared to walking down a pathway and facing difficulties where he must decide what to do, and the same is true for each of us. There is a lot of spiritual darkness in this life because our pathway is amidst a fallen, sin-cursed world. All around us are threats to our faith. Continually the world, the flesh, and the Devil tempt us to depart from the path of righteousness and put off the glory of God to indulge our sinful lusts. The danger is that we become spiritually disoriented and stumble into the pit of sin by disobeying God.
Therefore, it is important to have a light to guide us in our pilgrimage and the only light which can give us guidance is the Word of God. The psalmist wrote, “Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path.” What about you? Do you look to the Word of God to guide you in every decision of life or do you think you can determine for yourself between good and evil? Be not deceived, the only lamp and light in this dark world is the Word of God. Here is the admonition: read, heed, and lead. Dear friends, in this New Year, read the Word of God, heed the Word of God, and let the Word of God lead you in all that you think, say, and do. “And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts” (2 Peter 1:19).
Friday Devotional: January 1, 2021
In Christ,
Pastor S. Henry