Remembering The Light

You know, sometimes during worship you start singing one of those really old songs (not quite a hymn, but from maybe the eighties) and the thought goes through your mind, "Wow, this is old! I can't imagine GOD being able to speak through this one anymore...how lame."  No?  Just me?  Okay...

Well that was me this morning during one of our songs.  Sing it with me...

"Thy Word is a Lamp unto my feet
and a light unto my path..."

I mean, King James English?  Really?  How could that truly resonate with anything GOD would be trying to do now?  (I know, I am a bit of a worship snob)

The thing is...it did.  It really touched my heart.

Because while singing those words, GOD spoke.  "MY Word, Katy.  Have you forgotten?  Why do you think you are stumbling around with your purpose?  Why do you act so afraid of what is unknown to you?  MY Word is your light, and just because you know it doesn't mean you are still using it.  The memory of what light is isn't enough to light the path ahead. You need light every day for every part of the journey."

And during that moment, properly chastised by my loving Father, I felt tears make their way down my cheeks...(and maybe a few stares from other worship snobs wondering what they were missing).

HIS Word.  HIS Light.  My path.  HE chooses not only to walk it with me, but to show me what I need to see at any given step.  I know why HE doesn't show me the whole journey...HE knows I would quit before I started, overwhelmed by the immensity of what I could never fathom I would do.  HE shows me bits at a time, and I struggle through my steps until the next part is shown.  This way my trust on HIM grows.  The times of greatest struggle were times I was stumbling in the dark, Wordless...

But I know the Light (in this case, the Word of GOD).  I have read it, memorized parts, meditated on it, quote it, and cherish it.  I may go a few weeks without without actually delving in to my Word, but I listen to people teach about it.  I even teach from it myself.  Why the worry then?  I know the Word.

Let's, for just a moment, pretend the Word is a flashlight we have on a camping trip.  We have seen the light.  We know what it does and how to use it.  We teach others about it and show them how to use it.  We know how important it is and how it can save us from trouble.  But in the middle of the night when you have to walk alone, that knowledge isn't going to help much.  Remembering what the light looked like, recalling how it worked, even reciting portions of the manual aren't the same as actually shining the light on your path.

GOD, help me to keep Your Word on my path, lighting the way.  Help me to hunger for it, to crave it, to make time for it.  Remind me that it is a living Word, filled with Your breath, fresh and alive every day.

Your Word is a lamp for my feet to follow, a light to the path I walk.  Thank You for the reminder in a song You inspired by Your Light.

(For a really great short devotional about Lighting Your World, check out Thistlebend Ministries at www.thistlebendministries.org or download the YouVersion Bible app and search their Bible plans for Lighting Your World.)