Illumination

As a young boy, I used to love to go to summer camp. Each year I’d hop on a bus along with all my friends and go off for an action-packed week in the mountains. Of all the exciting things we would do there, one of my favorites was what we called, “flashlight hikes”.

After dark, we’d all get out our flashlights and head off down the trail through the woods. These hikes were intended to be educational, giving us a look at nocturnal wildlife activity. When I look back however, the thing I learned most was to watch where I was going when out hiking at night, and I learned that the hard way.

I had a good flashlight providing all the illumination I needed to guide me safely through forests, over hills, and around any other obstacles I might encounter. But the sad truth is that I was always stumbling or tripping over something. After several scraped knees and bruised shins, I began to wonder what the problem was, and here’s what I learned: A young boy out in the woods at night can conjure up visions of just about anything (given a few sounds and shadows), and every time I’d let my vivid imagination run wild, taking my eyes off the lighted path, the results were obvious.

I’ve found this to be true in my spiritual life as well. The word of God is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path (Psalm 119:105). It can provide all the light I need to make my way confidently through, over, or around anything I might face as I move through the oppressive darkness of this world. But when I refuse to attend to the light I’ve been given, I quickly find myself stumbling.

I was born to Christian parents and have known the Lord as my savior since I was five. So basically, I’ve been interacting with God’s word my whole life. And it has served as a faithful compass. Its truth has exposed stumbling stones of satanic deception, its trustworthiness has been a ledge by which I’ve escaped vast ravines of doubt, and its faithfulness has provided strength to scale great peaks of adverse circumstances.

Now, I have had my share of spiritual bumps and bruises. But these always occur when I allow my attention to be distracted from the Bible’s clear, constant light. In Ephesians 5:8, we are commanded to walk as children of light. It’s only when I fail to heed this admonition that I get into trouble. As Luke 11:34 reminds us: The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore, when your eye is good, your whole body also is full of light. But when your eye is bad, your body also is full of darkness.

Lord, cause my eye to be good – focused on your word – that my whole being may be filled with your light.