Your Word is a What to My Path?

One of the most quoted verses of the Bible might be Psalm 119:105 - "Your Word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path". What's sad about his is it might be one of the most misunderstood verses as well. A typical explanation of this verse to people involves a flashlight, and the example is you're walking in the dark but you have a flashlight - so you can see where you're going.

While this is true of the Bible, it helps us see where we are going, this interpretation misses the larger scope that the author is attempting to portray. Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible, and the author organizes it in such a way that he is practically screaming how great God's Word is. Not only does he go from A to Z (or Aleph to Tav) but he organizes the entire psalm by the number 8 as well - 8 sections to each letter, 8 names for God's Word, 8 symbols for God's Word, and 8 responses to God's Word. In Hebrew letters are associated with various ideas, and the number 8 is associated with the idea of overabundance. God's Word is more than you need.

So knowing this structure the idea that God's Word is a flashlight just doesn't make sense anymore. The word that is used for light actually refers to something like the light of the sun. That God's Word is a light which makes everything visible. It is the greatest light that we know, and it is by it that we see everything else clearly.

Now many sermons have been written which portray how God's Word should be used as a guide, as a light is a guide to the path. Instead I want to talk about what happens when people are holding or using a light. If it is dark outside and someone has a flashlight people naturally will want to walk near them; does the person with the flashlight put away their flashlight for fear of people judging them? No, that's ridiculous. Does the person point out that they do not have a flashlight and use their own flashlight to point out all the places they failed? No, that would be moronic, because then they could not see where they were going.

How are you using God's Word? Like a flashlight or like the sun?
Are you using it in a way that draws people closer or makes people want to leave?

Amber Waves of Grain, Purple Mountains Majesty, and All That Good Stuff

I write this from potentially one of the most beautiful places on earth – Waterton, Alberta, Canada. I am living on a hill which is bordered by a glacier made lake, and is surrounded by mountains. While I share this hill with my other employees at the Prince of Wales Hotel - I also share this hill with several ground hogs, a pack of deer, a herd of big horned sheep, and a fox. Every day I climb a steep hill to reach the hotel, which is at the top, – before I reach the hotel though I always turn and look to my right. I do this because at 6:30am the lake is serene and almost glass-like, the base of the mountains are peaking out of the misty fog which envelopes them like a blanket, and because it is here that I can’t help but praise God.

It is here in this environment that the words of Psalm 19 come to life. You can hear the heavens declaring the glory of God, and as you gaze at the sky which is proclaiming his handiwork you can’t help but lower your gaze a little and as it comes to rest on the peaks of the mountains you add your voice to theirs as they go out through all the earth. Here it’s easy to do that – every day is different, and every day is awesome. A group of us went for a hike up one of the shorter mountains, and as we get to the top my roommate summed up what we were all thinking when he exclaimed in a reverent whisper “this…is…breath-taking!”

It is true that this place is breath-taking but what do we do though if we live in the flat lands of the Mid-West, where in some places the most exciting thing we see is a wind turbine (I would know, I drove through South Dakota and left with at least 5 pictures of various wind turbines!)? Or we live in the city where we struggle to even find the brightest stars at night? Well for all of us we can read the second half of Psalm 19.

As David is contemplating how the heat of the sun touches everywhere on earth (it is interesting to note that he says the heat, and not the light), he is drawn towards God’s Law and it’s similar all-encompassing nature. As we begin to contemplate the God which nature is constantly imploring us to worship, we begin to consider his acts and what he has done. For David God’s greatest blessing was the giving of the law, because it was through the law that he was able to follow God. For Christians, we look to the cross to see God’s greatest blessing.

It is here before the cross that we all can join together in singing the praises of God's acts. It is here that the  mountains, the wildlife, and the lake begin fade in comparison to the wonder and majesty of what God has done and continues to do in people’s lives. The conversations that I have had with Christians  here  where we share what God has done in our life – whether money showing up in the bank so we could continue education or a cool breeze on a hot day – are more awe inspiring then standing on the peak of a mountain.

Why?

When we are looking at the mountain we are only watching praise rise to God, but when we join in the praising we are brought into the universal voice  - a voice which there is no nation or tongue which does not understand it. Are you ready to join in?