Psalm 119: 105-112

Nun.

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. I have sworn and I will confirm it, that I will keep Your righteous ordinances. I am exceedingly afflicted; Revive me, O Lord, according to Your word. O accept the freewill offerings of my mouth, O Lord, and teach me Your ordinances. My life is continually in my hand, yet I do not forget Your law. The wicked have laid a snare for me, yet I have not gone astray from Your precepts. I have inherited Your testimonies forever, for they are the joy of my heart. I have inclined my heart to perform Your statutes forever, even to the end.^[1]

Have you ever been at a place where it seemed that nothing was going well, and everything you tried seemed to falter and fail? If you have ever been in that place or a place like it, you know how uncomfortable it can be. You feel lost and disoriented, like you are grasping at straws and pulling back nothing. It is rather like walking in the midst of darkness without the aid of any type of ambient light from nearby streetlights, the moon or the stars. In that place we search for any kind of assistance we can get, and quite often it is the wrong kind because we look to human measures and remedies first.

The psalmist here writes that it is God’s Word that provides the illumination needed to find the right path. This is one of my favorite and much quoted scripture verses because I have found it to be absolutely instrumental in helping me forge the right path. God’s Word not only provides much needed illumination; it also brings revival to the soul. Life is full of challenges that are not overcome through any other measure but the employment of the Word of God. Thank God we can say with the psalmist that “is a lamp to my feet and a lamp to my path.” May we, like this psalmist, find it to be so.

Gracious God, teach us to fall in love with Your Word so that we may be able to declare its worth and value in our lives. Keep us from looking to our own means and measures for solutions to life’s challenges. Cause us to ever seek You and Your Word first in every situation. Amen.

^[1] New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Ps 119:105–112.