Light from the Word

Psalm 119:105 “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”

I read that one of the more beautiful metaphors in the Bible, light, is used either metaphorically or literally to stress understanding, knowledge, or truth. When inaccurate interpretations of God’s Word are taught, Isaiah said in Isaiah 8:20 that it is “because there is no light in them”. Peter noted in 2 Peter 1:19 that prophetic insight is like “light that shines in a dark place”.

This little devotional stated that one of the Lord’s most memorable statements was in John 8:12: “I am the light of the world”. Little wonder, then, that in this majestic Psalm 119 centering on the Word of God, this stanza acknowledges the role executed by the Scriptures “as the light that goes forth”.

The psalmist again mentioned his affliction and that his soul was constantly “in my hand”, a Hebrew idiom for constant danger. But nonetheless, his instant reaction was to focus on the “righteous judgments” of God and a promise to “not forget thy law”. He begged for the Lord to teach him God’s “judgments” and promised not to err “from thy precepts”.

Thus, woven throughout the stanza are the constant paradoxical tensions of supplication for relief from the wicked efforts to “snare” him and the confidence that whatever conditions may develop, the written Word of God would provide answers. Those words are “the rejoicing” of his heart, much like when David sang in Psalm 105:3, “Let the heart of them rejoice that seek the LORD”.

Finally, in the last line of this stanza of Psalm 119, the psalmist challenged us to embrace his own commitment to the Word of God as he wrote in Psalm 119:112, “I have inclined mine heart to perform thy statutes always, even unto the end”.