Need Illumination?

The teaching of your word gives light, so even the simple can understand.

Psalm 119:130

Sometimes it just sounds so simple—too good to be true—but God speaks to us through His Word.

Reading God’s Word shows me what I am really like! Let me tell you, it’s not always pretty. I need help because I cannot change myself, and neither can I fake my way past my need for grace! Something’s got to give.

Well, Someone does! God knows our condition, and when we read His Word, we can see where we fall short. Seeing our own inadequacy is good when it leads us to seek His help to change us where we need it.

My gratefulness for God’s sweet grace increases through the years as I experience more and more of my own faults and those of others. My husband and I have been married for nearly three decades, and those difficult early years of marriage forced me to my knees to hear what God had to say to grow me. I was focusing on my new husband meeting all my needs rather than focusing on Christ, the only One who can meet the deepest needs of my heart.

I’m grateful that I continue to hear God’s voice through the pages of His Word. He speaks to me even though I’m not one of the people who know all the biblical words in the original Hebrew or Greek. Through regularly attending a Bible-believing, growing church, reading the Bible on my own, and spending time with people who lived their faith in Christ, the lights come on in my soul. God, through His Word, illumines my pink path and helps me understand my personal need for His big grace. Having His spotlight on my heart lessens my tendencies to focus on others’ shortcomings because mine are so glaring.

Let’s allow Him to illumine our hearts to understand why we need Him. Ask Him to enlighten our hearts about one specific character flaw He wants to change so we will look more like Christ. And thank Him for His discipline, which is meant to make us shine even brighter. It is all good.