Week 6 Day 1 Devotions
But What Does It Mean?
“Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path.” Psalm 119:105
When the Psalmist writes about God's word he is usually referring to the Law but we can
quite comfortably take what the Psalmist says about the Law and apply it to the entirety of
God's written communication to us, the Bible.
Someone has painted the picture (with words)
of the Psalmist having little candles or lamps tied to his feet and only as he lifts his foot and
moves forward does some light shine on the path ahead. The idea is that God's word guides
us more step-by-step than by illuminating the whole of our future for us. In another context
we are told to ask for daily bread, not monthly provisions. So it is that Christians turn
expectantly to God's word, the Bible, for guidance and direction.
While most (one would
hope all) Christians agree that God speaks to us by His Spirit through the words of the Bible
there is not always agreement on what the words mean or what a particular text really says.
When it comes to interpreting the Scriptures, some believe a literal interpretation is the only
way, others that a literal interpretation must always take precedence (John Wesley was
certainly part of this school of thought), while others allow for varying degrees of freedom in
deciding what a text might mean; for example, who really believes that if our hand causes us
to sin we should get a knife out the drawer and cut it off?
How does God's word become a
lamp for my feet and a light for my path if it doesn't always mean what it says?
The Beatitudes might be helpful here: always come to God's word spiritually poor,
acknowledging the bankruptcy of your understanding. Mourn the fact that God's Word
doesn't have a more important place in your life. Approach God's word meekly willing to
come under the submission of whatever God might reveal to you and then hunger and thirst
for God-given revelation. Celebrate God's mercy in deigning to communicate with you
through His word and come to His word with a heart purified by the cleansing forgiveness
which follows honest repentance. Make peace with your Bible and especially those parts of
it that you wish weren't there. Be prepared to persecute, to banish or even put to death wrong
interpretations of God's word that you have clung to.
The Bible is God's word for us today and is an important means of God communicating His
grace to us. There was a time when the Bible was not in the hands of ordinary people like
you and me and the interpretation of its meaning was in the hands of a select few. Believe
and then praise God for the fact that with the guidance that His Holy Spirit gives, you can
read the Bible and be led into understanding what it means.
As far from abjectness as pride,
With condescending dignity,
Jesus, I make thy Word my guide,
And keep the post assigned by thee. (458)
