A LAMP TO MY FEET
“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path” (Psalm 119:105).
Sometimes ago, my son left an office chair behind when he visited me, and I found it comfortable for my back. However, there was a problem with the chair: it did not go up and it was at the lowest height. I turned the chair upside down to check what might be wrong. The operating lever was okay, so I knew it must be the cylinder. I got my toolbox but wondered how many bolts and nuts I would have to take out, because it had many bolts underneath the seat with a heavy metal plate. I realized it was going to be tough to get the cylinder out, so I said to myself, “Get the manual.” I called my son for the manual, and he didn’t have it, but thank God, you can get things easily on the internet. I read the manual and found out all I needed was a hammer, pipe wrench, and WD-40; I didn’t have to take out any bolts.
I followed the instructions, and it came out easily, so I quickly ordered a new cylinder from Amazon. Now the chair is like brand new. When I thought about this experience, Psalm 119:105 came to mind: “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” The manual showed me how to do it in the right way. I also discovered from the manual how to prolong the life of the cylinder by simply lowering and raising the seat occasionally to allow fluid to lubricate the piston.
God, the creator and author of life, has provided in His Holy Scripture, the Bible, instructions on the path of life. It teaches us how to live, shows us where we have gotten off track, helps us find the correct way to get back on the path, and gives us training to live a life that honors Him. It’s a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.
What got me a close-to-new chair was reading and then doing. Just reading the manual will not do it. The blessed man in Psalm 1 meditates on the word of God day and night, but the Bible says he prospers in what he does. We must be doers, not hearers only. The book of James says, “For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror … but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does” (James 1:23, 25).
Let’s take, for example, how the Bible instructs us about success in marriage and prosperity:
Marriage: To have a successful and happy marriage, the Bible instructs husbands to dwell with their wives with understanding and to honor them. “Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife … that your prayers may not be hindered” (1 Peter 3:7). To understand a person requires time, patience, and learning about them. Cokie Roberts, an American journalist who had a successful and happy married life for fifty-three years before her death, said, “Long-term marriage takes effort, deliberateness, and intention to learn about one another.” Do you take time to learn about your wife or husband? Do you honor your wife? The verse further says that if you ignore this, it can hinder your prayer. Wives are also instructed to submit themselves unto their husbands, as is fitting in the Lord (Colossians 3:18).
Likewise, the book of Ephesians 5:33 instructs husbands to love their wives as themselves and wives to reverence their husbands. When we follow this instruction, no matter what problem comes, our marriages will stand, because love will never fail (1 Corinthians 13:4). Love also covers a multitude of sins. Concerning love, Jesus said, “Love one another; as I have loved you.” How has Jesus loved us? He loved us unconditionally—while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. He didn’t love us because we were good or always doing the right thing.
The Bible encourages counselling (Proverbs 11:14, 15:22), but for it to work, you must act, not just hear good counsel.
Prosperity: Joshua 1:8 instructs us on the way to prosperity and success. “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” Prosperity is more than money and the accumulation of wealth or knowledge, but an ongoing state of success that touches every area of our lives.
- God wants His people to prosper: “Let them shout for joy and be glad, who favor my righteous cause; and let them say continually, ‘Let the LORD be magnified, Who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant’” (Psalm 35:27).
- God wants the world to fear and tremble at His goodness toward us: “Then this city will bring me renown, joy, praise, and honor before all nations on earth that hear of all the good things, I do for it; and they will be in awe and will tremble at the abundant prosperity and peace I provide for it” (Jeremiah 33:9).
We suffer many things in life because we fail to follow the directions. The Word of God is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path. If you refuse to use a light while walking in the night, you will stumble and fall. Likewise, if you reject the instructions of the Lord concerning your marriage, business, or any endeavor, it will rob you of God’s best. When the Bible has already told you what to do, just go ahead and do it.