A Little Light for the Way

Hey beautiful people. Long time no see! For those of you that understand the life of a college student, you know that outside of going to school, papers, presentations, reading, assignments, and exams, we are either working or sleeping while trying to find some time to sit down and eat lol. During the semester, I rarely have the time to work on my writing, but I know that God is going to allow me to write when and where He sees fit. I said all of that to say, "thank you for your patience, and thank you for coming back to read each time. Your loyalty to my blog means a lot." Okay, enough of the formalities. You know the drill: Holy Spirit has something to say, so grab your coffee, tea, or whatever drink suits your fancy, and let's sip on it.

Psalm 119:105 (NKJV) - Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

One thing that God has been doing lately is showing me glimpses of different rooms or locations, giving me a scripture, and then as I meditate on the scripture He has given me, He brings forth revelation. For the revelation behind Psalm 119:105, I was not presented with the scripture first. He showed me a glimpse of two locations. I do not know exactly where, but I know the kind of location I was in.

The first place was a dark path in the woods, and I was holding a lantern. Then, He showed me a dark attic with a lamp lit in the corner. The lantern and the lamp have a lot of similarities, but only want to highlight a few. Neither one of these lights was able to light up the entire path or attic. The lantern was only able to show me the ground around my feet. The lamp was only able to give light to the area it was placed in. As I was pondering on why I was given glimpses of those places, Holy Spirit led me to Psalm 119:105.

Psalm 119:105 NKJV says, "Your word is a lamp to my feet a light to my path." I did not know what Holy Spirit wanted me to do with that, so I said, "Okay, amen." Then I started meditating on it and repeating it until I had my hot coffee moment. (Hot Coffee Moment: When you take the first sip of coffee straight out of the pot, and it surprises us with the truth of shocking our tongues when we miss the evidence of the smoke.) Holy Spirit did not shock my tongue, but He did shock my spirit with a truth that had been in my face for years. It took a little longer for me to grasp this revelation, but we all know the saying: "you live, and you learn."

I have read this scripture, heard this scripture in church, and even had it taped to my old lamp for years. I knew God brought me back to this very familiar scripture for a reason, but I was not exactly sure why He brought it back to my remembrance. The reason behind this was a conversation that I had with Holy Spirit. I talk about my future to Him A LOT, but not in a way as if I don't trust in Him, but because of my curiosity about what is to come. So as He brought me back to this conversation, He made it known that the conversation and the scripture were connected and that connection led me to the revelation behind what He wanted me to know.

In this conversation, I was curious about why we can't know everything about our lives, so we could possibly make better decisions, not experience anxiety about the unknown, and have an idea of what to prepare for. The big question was, "why can't it all be revealed at one time?" Because if it could all be revealed at one time, wouldn't that give us less anxiety? You would think so, but it's actually not to our benefit to know. It's been revealed to most people their destination of where God is taking them. This destination does not have to be a place, but for some, it could be their calling or their next season of life. Our spirit man knows that this will happen in the allotted time God allows, but our flesh feels like, in order to make the first move, it has to know each step and every time stamp.

We have plenty of examples in the Bible to help us understand why God gives us a lamp and not a flashlight. Take Abraham for an example. If you did not know, God gave Abraham a promise, and there were three main parts to this promise: the promised land, the promise of the descendants, and the promise of blessings and redemption. We won't get into those today, but God treated Abraham just like anyone else He entrusted with a calling. He told him the destination but never made the journey clear. Abraham did not know each step, Abraham did not know when he was getting there or how he was getting there, but He knew that God would help him along the way. We want a GPS, but God is only going to give us a hand-held map. Meaning we will get to our destination as promised, and we will do what He has called us to do, but we will not know when or how we are getting there. 2 Corinthians 5:7 says, "For we walk by faith, and not by sight."

Notice that the scripture (Psalm 119:105) didn't say, "your word is a phone light to my feet, and a lit up stadium to my path or a flashlight to my feet and the sun to my path." It gave us this kind of lighting (a lamp brightness) in the scripture for a reason. As an English major, I do a lot of close reading, and this is something that has trickled into my time studying the Word of God. One thing that I have not been able to let go of from this scripture is the lamp. We all know the basics of a lamp: lamp, bulb, and lampshade. What do we use lamps for? Some may say for decorative purposes, reading at night or early in the morning, or some prefer them over the overhead lights.

It is essential that we notice what was pointed out: decorative, reading, and preferences. The connotation behind these three words sets the tone of calmness. I think lamps are one of the most amazing inventions ever. So out of curiosity, I look up “why do we need lamps?” This is what I gathered: Lamps were created to shift the mood and atmosphere of any room that it is placed in when it’s turned on. Lamps also have something called a lampshade. Lampshades were never made to hide the light. Instead, they were only placed over the light to redirect the light from the bulb for maximum effectiveness. I have a lamp in my room because I like the atmosphere of my room a certain way. In the scripture, it says, “Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path,” so when we are on the journey heading to our destination, He points us back to the model: the Word.

Whenever I meditate on a scripture, I like to read it out of different translations to get a deeper understanding of what is being said, and let's be honest: some translations are just easier to read and understand. The translation that stuck out to me the most was "The Passion Translation" of this scripture. It says.....

“Truth’s shining light guides me in my choices and decisions; the revelation of your Word makes my pathway clear.”

So to answer the question: "why can't it be revealed at one time?" Well, it's because that's how God intended it. He never wants us to ever feel as if we do not need Him. He gave us a constant in this world of chaos: His Word, but who is His Word? John 1:14 says, "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." In the scripture, the Word that is the lamp is Jesus.

In the locations of the attic and the dark path, He was letting me know that I have everything that I need. His Word and the promise. Do we all get anxious at times? Yes, and that is what causes us to question the next step. The lamp of the Word that we carry may not seem to the world like we will make it anywhere because of the way it shines a little bit around our feet, but we know that it is the light of His Word that He has given to us for that moment of our journey. We don't need stadium lights, just a little light for the way.

-Taleigh E. Reed, Coffee Dates with Jesus