A Light for My Way

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

This short and familiar verse has so much valuable truth packed into it. The analogy of light is used throughout Scripture to teach us about God, His Word and our walk through life with Him, guided by His words to us in scripture. Such a rich and powerful picture! 

I experienced this truth in such a real and practical way in my days as a wilderness guide in the San Juan Mountains of Southwest Colorado. Those summers I worked at Wilderness Ranch, an outdoor adventure ministry of Young Life (a high school parachurch organization that goes to kids where they’re at in schools and sports, building relationships to reach them with the love, grace & truth of Christ through the gospel. I did this in college in Michigan. Then while I was living in Dallas I actually worked as a substitute teacher and on my days off from the hospital and enjoyed Friday Night Lights at the high school I volunteered at. I still keep in touch with some of those students!!) were some of the best, most adventurous, most memorable of my life!! It’s where I feel most alive and joy-filled by His breathtaking creation via my lungs and eyes🏔 I loved getting to use my medical knowledge and skills on the trail with kids and to do backcountry rescues. My dream job! (Maybe God will give me my “heavenly duties” in this area!) I loved to getting real with these kids as we pushed them physically (most of them coming from sea level suburbia to 10,000 ft of elevation, hiking miles each day in Rockies with a 50 lb pack of their back facing the elements of weather, altitude, blisters, etc), we could go deeper spiritually. 

One of my favorite things was doing “trail talks” where we would use analogies from the natural world around us to teach them Biblical lessons. And one of my favorite trail talks involved Psalm 119:105. Often times we found ourselves hiking in the darkness of the wee hours of the morning or the post-sunset hours of the evening. We used headlamps to navigate. In order for them to be useful they had to have working batteries, be securely strapped to our heads, facing forward and turned on. If and when they were, they lite our path a few feet ahead of us on the trail as well as a few feet to the right & left of the trail. Having consulted our topographical maps that we were trained to read & use, we had already decided on our destination and mapped out the right/best trail(s) to get us there. Now we just needed to follow it, not straying to the left or right, not fearful of what we couldn’t see beyond the light but moving forward in trust along the path before us one step at a time until we reached our desired destination. The kids (& adult leaders) in our groups had to trust us as their guides to be knowledgeable, capable & equipped to get us all to the right place safely.  

So it is in our spiritual life as we walk with Christ, guided by the Holy Spirit. God gives us the Map with instructions to navigate through life and guide us on the path that leads to our final, eternal life-forever & full in heaven with Him! Then we need to walk that path in obedience and faith, faithfully utilizing His Word to be a “lamp to our feet and a light to our path.” It’s not enough to just have this Light with us. We need to “turn it on” by opening it up, reading it and letting its truth shine upon the way in front of us to show us where to go. We know our ultimate destination but God only enlightens our path a few feet in front of us, requiring us to trust Him with what’s ahead further down the road beyond our vision. He will always give us what we need to follow His Way shown to us with His Word as we need it but not beyond. Taking care of tomorrow is His. Trusting Him with tomorrow is ours.