His Word Is A Lamp To My Feet

Before I became a Christian, I was adept at long-term planning. It got to a point that a few of my friends took to calling me “ten-year development plan.” Man, I could plan! And then I became a Christian but continued with my old ways. That is, until God taught me to make shorter, preferably daily, plans. He pointed out that His word is a lamp to my feet, not a floodlight. And most definitely not to my ten-mile highway.

Point taken, Lord. But please don’t conclude that I was immediately able to fall in line. I am not sure even now that I have fully licked that nasty habit of making plans for the upcoming century. However, I am much better now, even if I say so myself.

Every morning now, I humorously remind myself by repeating that verse, like a mantra. His word is a lamp to my feet, not a floodlight to my highway. Perhaps by cracking me up, it helps to shape my planning.

You Need To Know That God’s Word Is A Lamp To My Feet

The lesson which God taught me bears sharing with you. Because my suspicion is that I am not alone in being a master planner. As a matter of fact, there are so many of us that we have a class for ourselves. According to psychologists, we represent the type A personality.

Such people make umpteen plans so that if one fails, they have a few others from which to choose. You likely have a type A personality if you have to have everything just so. That is, if you are a perfectionist. Now, this is not a lesson in psychology but a lesson in trust.

Thank God that, through Jesus, we now have the personality of God. We are new creatures now that we are in Christ. Perhaps we can say we represent a type G personality, where G stands for God. We would have liked to be type C for Christ but the type C personality is already taken. And if you check it out, you will see that it is the exact opposite of Christ.

Now, there is evidently nothing wrong with planning but making long-term inflexible plans smacks of anxiety and worry. It should therefore not surprise you that an integral part of that personality type is aggressive anxiety. You start to believe that you are in control. Until the bottom falls out of your world.

Knowing That His Word Is A Lamp To My Feet Is A Cure For Anxiety

That is only when you begin to appreciate that there is only One in control and His name is God. And only if you have learned this vital lesson. And what is the lesson? His word is a lamp to my feet. Because as Jesus pointed out, worrying and therefore, over-planning, does you no good. We cannot by worrying add one millimeter to our height.

This is the Prince of peace Himself letting you in on the secret recipe for peace. Being anxious about what to have for dinner has never brought food into the pantry, so why do we do it? Stop worrying. Which, in this case, means stop making long-term plans. Tomorrow does not belong to you anyway, James cautions. He further wonders why we make plans for tomorrow.

You need to frequently remind yourself “His word is a lamp to my feet, not a floodlight to my highway.” Otherwise, you will never learn to trust God and live in the present. You will always be hoping for the future. Like the athlete who came 2^nd at the Olympics. A reporter stuck a microphone in her face and wondered what she felt about not getting gold. Her response was an education.

She was not going to think about that. She was too busy enjoying what she had accomplished. Evidently, she was a Christian, learning the lesson that Jesus taught His followers. He had wanted them to know that the evil of today is sufficient for today. That is how to have peace and that is what it means to trust God. Don’t import tomorrow’s problems into today. Doing so will most definitely overwhelm you.

Do You Know That Level of Peace?

The question that we all have to answer is whether we can be like that athlete. Can we confidently say “His word is a lamp to my feet?” Or am I insisting on having a floodlight? We must learn to take one day at a time, particularly now that the end is near.

What if today is the day the Rapture trumpet will sound? And you have locked your life into a five or ten-year plan. Will you not then discover, to your chagrin, that you have lost the short-term joy as you made plans? Meanwhile, you are not here to reap the rewards of your long-term plan.

Even if the trumpet does not sound the rapture today. What about ill-health or death? We must learn to trust God for today as well as for all the other subsequent days. Then, it will not matter what any one day brings. You will have peace because you know who holds your future.

No, it is not you and it is not me; because His word is a lamp unto my feet. Your future is safe in the hands of the One who holds the sky from falling. He is eternal; His name is God and He would like to guide you step by step.

Reflect on that last phrase for a minute: step by step. Wouldn’t that be so cool? To have the God of Heaven and of earth, taking you along life’s journey, one step at a time. Trust me, you sleep better.  And that is peace.

Maranatha!