Thoughts from daily Bible reading for today – November 25, 2020
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Psalm 119:105 (NRSV)
In Psalm 119, we are presented with a variety of well-known verses and captivating images, with verse 105 quickly rising to the top of the list. Here, we are reminded that the Lord’s word to us is both “a lamp to our feet” and “a light to our path.” As we inch ever closer to the Advent season, our preparations for Christmas will increasingly invite us to sit with themes of light and darkness, remembering the light of Christ that drives all darkness away.
As I reflect upon this verse, I am struck by the inclusion of both light at one’s feet and light that falls upon the path ahead. In so doing, the psalmist invites us to live in a place of healthy tension, neither shortsightedly obsessing over immediate circumstances, nor getting lost in the future and failing to tend to the life that lies before you. As is so often the case, wisdom is found in avoiding these two extremes.
Which end of this spectrum are you more inclined towards? Do you find yourself anxiously worrying about the tasks of the day, unable to see how anything you are doing in the present contributes to future goals or plans you may have? On the other hand, do you easily daydream about future goals for your family or career, yet struggle to commit yourself to the present and the actual people and places in which God has invited you to invest?
Apart from the light of Christ, we will continue to stumble in the present and get lost in the darkness of the future. Yet, thanks be to God, we are reminded afresh today that our Lord is intimately involved in the immediate details of our life, and is faithful to illumine the way that lies before us, inviting us as he does to faithfully walk in the light of his love. As the Psalms remind us elsewhere, “You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me” (Psalm 139:5). There is nowhere we can go in which we can escape the illuminating light of God, in the present or in the future, and this is good news indeed!
Prayer
Father, thank you that you are with us wherever we go, in whatever season we are in, and will walk us through whatever the future may hold. Amen.
Application
Which of the two extremes do you find yourself most consistently drifting towards? How can you learn to tend to what is in front of you and the path that lies ahead?
Related Reading
Psalm 19:8; Proverbs 6:23; John 8:12
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