Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path. --Psalm 119:105
Last night I was walking through my house and it was pitch black. I could see absolutely nothing. Now, particularly with my “tripping” tendencies, one might think that this would be a rather dangerous task. But, much to my surprise, I never fell. Though “blind," on my walk that night, I have walked around my house so many times that I knew where each piece of furniture was. I knew I needed to watch for my son’s shoes at the end of the stairs. I knew that there was a pillar in the center of the dining room. I didn’t need anyone to lead me through. I walked through the "familiar" without a problem.
This made me start thinking about the old Sunday school illustration of a Christian walking blindly through life with Christ guiding their hands and lighting their footsteps. I realized that although this greatly depicts how we should “walk” through this life, there is another part of the illustration, if we are truly honest with ourselves. Through the familiar parts of our lives, we know (or at least we think we know) all the steps. We have traveled them a hundred times before and we are generally not concerned with tripping or falling in them. It could be a relationship, a job, or family, or a million other “familiar” aspects of human life. We tend only to lean on our Guide when the territory is new or unknown. We are scared that the next step may lead to pain and loss.
However, even within the familiar, there is always a stray shopping bag (work with the metaphor people) or a backpack that could cause us to fall or stumble, even in the environments we feel we know so well. Now, obviously this illustration is used to show how we need Christ in the unfamiliar places where we fear each step we take. But, also, remember that He is also there in the familiar. In fact, He waits to guide you through every aspect of your life. Now, this also means he may wish to lead you from the familiar to the unknown, or simply to guide you past the obstacles you are too over-confident to see. Either way, you don’t have to walk in the dark by yourself. And even if you know the path, isn’t always more comforting to have a friend along for the ride?
3 comments:
Dorothy--This is such a wonderful devo! How many times have we stumled around in the dark, thinking we knew our way around, but unaware that someone left something unexpected in our way? The enemy always seems to be doing that. We should expect it, bu you're right, we don't always look for it.
Thanks Linda, you are right Satan is a cunning adversary and knows just what it takes to destroy the path God has set before us. God's scriptures are the weapons we use against this foe of our life, whose only goal is to defeat us. Praise be to God for His victory. What a friend we have in Jesus!!!
Dorothy, I love this devotional. Having a fairly new teenager, I've often felt the last year that I was in "new territory" Even in the familiar territory, dealing with my fourth grader, i have stumbled and needed guidance. It was a real blessing for me to read this. Thank you so much
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