Turn on Your Lights!

LISTEN NOW!

January 22, 2022

Psalm 119:105 ESV

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

CONSIDER THIS

It happened again the other night. I’m sure you have had the same experience. I’m driving down a busy but largely unlit boulevard and I see a car up ahead driving with their lights off. Per usual, they were completely unaware. I noticed people coming from the opposite direction were flashing their lights. I began to click between high and low beam from the rear. I then began to flash my headlights on and off. I saw a car up ahead start to pull out into the lane of oncoming traffic only to slam their breaks at the last minute upon finally spotting the darkened car. I zoomed up alongside the car, wildly waving my arms, and finally getting their attention to turn on their headlights.

A vehicle without lights is a hazard to its occupants as well as everyone else on the road around them.

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

We readily think of this text as it relates to our seeing the path ahead of us. When our path is lit by the Word of God it also illuminates the path for others around us as well. Imagine, though, a town or city where most of the vehicles did not have headlights. It would be treacherous getting around after dark wouldn’t it? Unfortunately, it is an apt metaphor for the state of affairs in this country if not much of the world today. People are without the Light. More and more people are driving around with their lights off. It’s why we must have awakening.

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

Think about the distinction in the text. On the one hand, the Word of God shines the light around. my feet so I can avoid tripping over obstacles or unlevel ground. That is kind of like the “low beam” headlights. On the other hand, the Word of God shines light on the path ahead, showing us where we are headed. That is kind of like the “high beam” headlights. That is the Word of God, illuminating what is right in front of us and what is out ahead of us.

Here’s the challenge. The Word of God is not the Bible on our shelf or even the one in our hand. The Word of God, on the every day paths of life, consists of the Scripture that has been impressed on our hearts, embedded in our minds and enfleshed in our real lives.

Some newer cars these days have a setting where they will automatically shift between high beam and low beam based on the path ahead. That is what a person steeped and saturated in the Word of God is like. It becomes automatic. Wisdom and counsel and guidance seem to flow into and out of them almost effortlessly. They “know” things others do not know because the Word has given them insight. They “hear” things others do not hear because the Word has given them attunement. They “see” things others do not see because the Word has given them illumination.

Remember the double domino text from yesterday. Sanctify them by the truth. Your word is truth. (John 17:17) The Word of God, from constant exposure, makes us luminous. Our path is not lit from a book in our hand as though it were a flashlight. It is lit by the Word unleashed in our lives.

One more reason we say: Wake up sleeper, and rise from the dead . . .

And you say . . . (Hint: see Ephesians 5:14)

THE PRAYER

Yes, Lord, your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. I want to walk in the Light as you are in the Light. Your Word is my guidance, my wisdom, and my luminosity. By your Spirit, your Word is becoming my character and my constitution. I love your Word, Lord and in loving your Word I am loving you. Thank you Jesus. We pray in your name. Amen.

THE QUESTION

How are you letting the Light of the Word shine into your heart, mind, soul, and strength? How are you engaging the source of the Light, the Word of God?

For the Awakening,
J.D. Walt
Sower-in-Chief
seedbed.com