Lamp
"You are my lamp, O LORD; the LORD turns my darkness into light." (2 Samuel 22:29 NIV)
When I think of God as my Lamp, I picture something along the lines of a 6000-lumen, LED "tactical flashlight" capable of spotlighting a good long stretch of the road ahead of me.
I imagine this gives God a good laugh, because in fact the sort of lamp mentioned in today's key verse and in other Old Testament passages would have been a small clay bowl holding oil and a bit of flax or linen serving as a wick. The glow this "lamp" produced would have provided just enough light for the person holding it to see to take the next step directly in front of him or her.
God is big on us just taking the next step and trusting Him with what lies in the darkness beyond that. Stepping in the light of what we can already see is called gratitude, but faith requires trusting in what we can't see yet—and, more to the point, trusting in the Lamp who CAN see it and is already there. Faith pleases God. It makes Him happy, and He rewards it.
Oh God, our Lamp who turns our darkness into light, help us fill our clay bowls with the oil of wisdom, hope, and confidence in who You are. Help us to light this oil with the fire of faith. And help us then to take the next step on the piece of the path You illuminate for us.
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“When you don’t know what to do next, just do the thing in front of you.” (Elisabeth Elliot)
Song suggestion: "Thy Word," Amy Grant, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OTVuGaiTsE.
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I'd love to hear from you! Feel free to tell me what you really think. Years ago, I explained to my then-two-year-old that my appointment with a counselor was "sort of like going to a doctor who will help me be a better mommy." Without blinking, she replied, "You'd better go every day." All of which is just to say I've spent some time in the school of brutal honesty!