A Lamp unto my feet

Reading God’s Word

Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. Psalm 119:105

God’s word is our life manual. It is where we go to hear his voice. Where we go to learn about his purpose for creation. People often say they feel like God has been silent. In reality, God is never silent. He speaks to us in many ways, but most often he speaks to us through his word.  We don’t even realize the gift that we have as God has given us his Word. In the word is where we find eternal truths, connection with God, instructions for life, and hope for our future. God’s word is perfect, life-giving, absolute, and eternal.

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17

In order to learn and grow in relationship with Christ, we must get to know him. As believers in Christ, who wouldn’t want to know about the God that has saved them? Who wouldn’t want to read about the hope we have in Christ? Who wouldn’t want to share God’s goodness with others? It’s how we learn to handle our current season and learn where God is leading us next.

God’s word is nourishment for our souls. It is what sustains us in a world of emptiness. It satisfies our thirst for something greater than ourselves. We find full satisfaction in him.

Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. John 6:35

In God’s word, we learn about his love, his grace, and his power. We also learn about his holiness, his faithfulness, his plan for us, and so much more. We find encouragement, instructions, and understanding. Psalm 119 is a good descriptive about the importance of God’s word.

I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways.I delight in your decrees;    I will not neglect your word. Be good to your servant while I live,    that I may obey your word.Open my eyes that I may see    wonderful things in your law. Psalm 119:15-18

Reading God’s word for most can be challenging, but it truly is the best story ever told. We want to get closer to God but never spend time in his word. God tells us to meditate on his word. To delight in his word. To obey, study, dwell, understand, and hold fast to his word. It’s a gift because it unlocks the key to His heart for his people. To do these things we have to set aside intentional time. We have to prepare our hearts for God to speak to us. It takes time. We have become so used to quick and short snippets of entertainment. We forget how to slowly read and digest something. We want quick answers and don’t like to sit with something we don’t understand right away. We have reels and short clips of messages and have become conditioned to this sort of information. But we know everything of God works differently than culture. To meditate on something means to devote your attention to it. To dwell with something means to sit with it. When studying the word we have to get rid of distractions and focus on what we are reading.

Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Joshua 1:8

 When we don’t know what to pray, we can pray the prayers in our Bible. It will give us a start on what words to say. We can speak God’s words back to him because we know that his word is true. His word was here from the very beginning and will continue to the very end.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1

When you think of the grandness of the Bible, we forget how wonderful and holy it is. We have pictures of the Bible on shirts, bags, jewelry, and on our phones. But how much time do we spend actually reading what’s in it? We take pieces of it and make it fit our situations. However, we rarely read it in a way that can truly change us. We read it to try and change our situations instead of change us. I challenge you to not just read God’s word to see yourself. Read his word to see who he is. After you read a passage, think about what you learned about his character. Did you walk away from that passage seeing his love, his grace, his peace, his faithfulness or his gentleness? When we understand who God is, we grow in awe of his glory. We realize the power we have in Christ as his children.

For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Hebrews 4:12

And once we know the word, we must allow it to do a work in us. As it begins to change us, we must keep in step with the spirit. We must go wherever it leads. We must say what it tells us to say. We must do what it tells us to do.

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do. James 1:22-25

The lamp lights the path for our feet. God’s plan for our lives will be revealed one step at a time as we grow deeper in his word. That same light will then reflect to Christ to get the glory from our lives. Others will also see the shining light to help them find their way to our Heavenly Father.