His Word + His Presence = Clear, Safe Vision

His Word + His Presence = Clear, Safe Vision

Thy word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path. -- Psalm 119:105; King James Version

You must love the LORD your God and obey all His requirements, laws, regulations, and commands. But you have seen all the LORD's mighty deeds with your own eyes! Therefore, be careful to obey every command I am giving you today, so you may have strength to go in and occupy the land you are about to enter. -- Deuteronomy 11:1, 7 & 8; New Living Translation

We have a storage building that has two rooms and one of them is leaking. My nephew graciously moved all of the stuff from the leaky room into the dry room. That made the one room VERY crowded. The only light in that room operates by a pull chain. The other night I needed to go into the shed, and forgot to carry a flashlight. I am lazy. I didn't want to walk back into the house, so I turned on my cell phone to light the way to the pull switch for the overhead light. Though the room was very dark and very full of boxes and furniture, the little light my phone afforded got me there safely.

That's another thing in using God's word to determine His will...this is a dark, sinful world and God's word lights the way for us to go! It's often very frightening and confusing to make our way through life. We need His "flashlight" to pick our way through this frightful, confusing world.

You know what's better than a light in a dark place? I'll tell you, someone that sees past the darkness, knows the way through it and is tough enough to whip whatever may come at us from the shadows!

Here is a simple truth about direction for our lives: God has given us His word to light the way we should go, but even more important than that, He will go along with us as we use HIS LIGHT.

The Deuteronomy passage above occurred after God gave Moses the second set of stone tablets (after he had destroyed the other set when the people were worshiping a stinking golden cow). God was basically saying, "Obey Me. I'll show you the way to go, and if you obey Me, I will be your strength and you will be okay." God didn't want them worrying as much about what was going to happen next or where exactly they were going as much as He wanted the people to simply trust Him. If any boogie-men came out to get them God would take care of business...IF they obeyed Him and follow His ways.

Moses stated the essence of God's commands in this way: "And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you? He requires you to fear Him, to live according to His will, to love and worship Him with all your heart and soul, and to obey the LORD's commands and laws that I am giving you today for your own good. The highest heavens and the earth and everything in it all belong to the LORD your God" (Deuteronomy 10:11-13; NLT, emphasis mine).

That's light for a dark world right there! Why did He want us to do these things? FOR OUR OWN GOOD!!!! Not only did He provide life mission and direction, but even when Jesus was about to ascend to heaven He reiterated God's command and commitment when He said, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20; ESV, emphasis mine).

So, I am going to give you a straight answer for a change; direction for life should fall under these few things: trust God to show us the way (even when He doesn't tell us exactly where He is going), use the light He has provided, spend the majority of our time concentrated our lives on Him and running every part of life through our God filter, and do that so passionately that we cannot help but sharing the will of God with others until they desire to do the same.

If we take care to do these things, we'll have our hands so full of easing through the darkness that we won't be afraid and we won't feel so lost...and, rest assured of this, He won't leave us alone in the process.