On a recent early morning drive in to Michigan, I had the very challenging task of driving in heavy, misty fog and rain. Visibility was poor and it was almost impossible to read road signs ten meters away, and even worse, to see other vehicles on the road even with their four-way flashers on. My in car navigational system was working beautifully, and with turn-by-turn instructions it would take me exactly where I wanted to go. But of what use was it if I couldn't even see the road and my exits? How could I even be sure I was staying in the right driving lane? In situations like these I take advantage of what my eyes could see, the white lines on my left. As long as I stayed close to those lines, I wouldn't have to worry about drifting across other lanes. They were my guide to let me know I was in the correct driving lane.
The spiritual truth in the experience was not lost on me. As I drove confidently on, the words of the Psalmist came alive in my being, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path" (119:105, KJV). In the quietness of my thoughts pondering the magnitude of the verse, the Holy Spirit reminded me that He was like my navigational system, always pointing the way to where I needed to go, but in the darkness of the world that is ours, and in the course of day to day living, the word of God were my white lines. As long as I stayed within the boundaries, I would be fine.
It is interesting that in Psalm 119 there are thirty-eight references to "thy word", and the first time David used it, he wrote, "Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word" (v.9). It is no wonder then that two verses later he continued, "Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee." Or as The Message translation paraphrases it, "I've banked your promises in the vault of my heart so I won't sin myself bankrupt." Like driving in heavy, misty fog and rain, staying within the boundaries of the Word can be extremely challenging but they are our white lines. "By your words I can see where I'm going; they throw a beam of light on my dark path" is how The Message puts verse 105, an acknowledgment of the fact that if our every step are not guided by the Word, we cannot be assured that we are in the right lane.
On the nature of the word of God and the use we should make of it, Bible Scholar Matthew Henry wrote, "1. It discovers to us, concerning God and ourselves, that which otherwise we could not have known; it shows us what is amiss, and will be dangerous; it directs us in our work and way, and a dark place indeed the world would be without it. It is a lamp which we may set up by us, and take into our hands for our own particular use (Pro. 6:23). The commandment is a lamp kept burning with the oil of the Spirit; it is like the lamps in the sanctuary, and the pillar of fire to Israel. 2. The use we should make of it. It must be not only a light to out eyes, to gratify them, and fill our heads with speculations, but a light to our feet and to our path, to direct us in the right ordering of our conversation, both in the choice of our way in general and in the particular steps we take in that way, that we may not take a false way nor a false step in the right way. We are then truly sensible of God's goodness to us in giving us such a lamp and light when we make it a guide to our feet, our path."
Have you checked your steps lately? Who, or what, has been guiding them?
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