LIGHTEN OUR DARKNESS
Opening Prayer
Surprising God, be with me today in ways I cannot imagine, in love and power and in compassion and kindness.
Read Psalm 119:97–112
מ Mem
97 Oh, how I love your law!
I meditate on it all day long.
98 Your commands are always with me
and make me wiser than my enemies.
99 I have more insight than all my teachers,
for I meditate on your statutes.
100 I have more understanding than the elders,
for I obey your precepts.
101 I have kept my feet from every evil path
so that I might obey your word.
102 I have not departed from your laws,
for you yourself have taught me.
103 How sweet are your words to my taste,
sweeter than honey to my mouth!
104 I gain understanding from your precepts;
therefore I hate every wrong path.
נ Nun
105 Your word is a lamp for my feet,
a light on my path.
106 I have taken an oath and confirmed it,
that I will follow your righteous laws.
107 I have suffered much;
preserve my life, Lord, according to your word.
108 Accept, Lord, the willing praise of my mouth,
and teach me your laws.
109 Though I constantly take my life in my hands,
I will not forget your law.
110 The wicked have set a snare for me,
but I have not strayed from your precepts.
111 Your statutes are my heritage forever;
they are the joy of my heart.
112 My heart is set on keeping your decrees
to the very end.[a]
Footnotes
- Psalm 119:112 Or decrees / for their enduring reward
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
Do you really use the Word of God like a light for your life’s path?I love to sit in my ‘writing nook’ (sorry, husband, that’s ‘shed’ to you …) on a dark night with just the desk lamp as illumination. It casts out just enough light for the task in hand, and makes me feel cozy and secure, motivated and ready for action all at once. As can the lamp of God’s Word (105).
Our psalmist goes so much further in his appreciation of the Word of God. What a man he is! God’s Word is absolutely everything to him, whatever his situation. He lives by it, meditates on it all day long (97). He turns to it in times of trouble (110). He absolutely relishes the words (103). It would all be safely stored in his memory.
We don’t always appreciate light these days because we are rarely without it. We don’t always appreciate God’s Word because there are too many distractions blocking out its light. The psalmist’s experience would have been very different. Perhaps we need to take on board what life was like for him and do a bit of refocusing ourselves.
Apply
Turn the lights out. In what area of your life do you especially need God’s wisdom? In the darkness, meditate on the words you read today and ask God to be your light in this situation.
Closing prayer
Strengthen me Lord, to be a good steward of the Bible, speaking its truth in love and embodying its truth with integrity.
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