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?