The Light Of Obedience

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

Psalm 119:105

If you go into any of the big-box home-improvement stores, you’ll find an entire section devoted to flashlights. Some of them are huge! They advertise millions of units of candlepower in brightness and can light up objects a quarter mile away. These lights are a far cry from the tiny, handheld oil lamps in biblical times: one candlepower in strength, lighting up objects perhaps five feet away!

The psalmist writes that God’s Word is a lamp to his feet and a light to his path. And in the mind of the Israelite, God’s Word was something to be obeyed. As I obey God’s Word where I stand today, His Word will give direction for the next move I should make. In other words, there is no need to see a quarter mile down life’s path if I am not going to obey and take the one step God has made clear where I stand. If you are seeking direction for your life, obey what God has shown you today. Do that one day at a time, and looking back, you’ll realize the entire way has been illuminated.

Obedience is not a matter of seeing the whole path, only the next step. Obedience increases seeing.

The plain fact is that not everyone who professes to seek guidance is honestly desirous of being guided into God’s will.

J. OSWALD SANDERS