A Lamp to My Feet

“Your word is a lamp to my feet

    and a light to my path.

I have sworn an oath and confirmed it,

    to keep your righteous rules.

I am severely afflicted;

    give me life, O Lord, according to your word!

Accept my freewill offerings of praise, O Lord,

    and teach me your rules.

I hold my life in my hand continually,

    but I do not forget your law.

The wicked have laid a snare for me,

    but I do not stray from your precepts.

Your testimonies are my heritage forever,

    for they are the joy of my heart.

I incline my heart to perform your statutes

    forever, to the end.” (Psalms 119:105-112 ESV)

If God’s Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path, what should that look like in reality? In practice? Well, first of all, at least here in America, with so many different Bible translations and paraphrases, we need the guidance of the Lord in knowing which ones are the closest to the original writings and which ones to avoid entirely. I would definitely rule out “The Message” (MSG) and “The Passion Translation,” (TPT) which are single individual people paraphrases with personal individual liberties taken (1). Not good!

The King James Version (KJV), the English Standard Version (ESV), the New American Standard Bible (NASB), and the New International Version (NIV) I have found to be the most accurate of the English translations. I don’t generally use the KJV because I don’t speak that antiquated language and it is very difficult for me to understand it. I like the NIV for its readability, but I prefer the NIV’84 which is no longer available online. The NASB is generally over my reading grade level, so I have settled mostly on the ESV.

So, to the best of your ability and understanding, if possible, make certain that you are reading a translation that is reliable and is recognized as biblically accurate, to the best that any translation can be accurate. And the next step is to make certain that you are studying the Scriptures in their full context. If you are not familiar with a particular book of the Bible, read the whole thing before you start making judgments on what you think it is teaching. Be very careful to not interpret verses out of their context!

So, read from a respected and reliable translation, if possible, and then read the Scriptures IN CONTEXT so that you are getting the correct meaning of the verses. Then let the Holy Spirit speak truth to your hearts and to give you the messages he has for you which must be consistent with the Scriptures, as a whole. For our Lord is not going to give us messages from his word which contradict the Scriptures and which are contrary to God’s expressed will and purpose for our lives. So read with spiritual discernment.

Read the Scriptures, not just as part of a daily religious routine, but because you want to learn from the Lord what he has for us and what he wants to teach us, and so we know the will of God for our lives, and so we know the way in which we are to go as followers of Jesus Christ. Imagine that you are like Mary (the sister of Lazarus) sitting at Jesus’ feet just drinking in his words, hungering to know the will of God so that you can do the will of God, by God’s grace and in his power, strength, and wisdom.

And then begin to put into daily practice what the Lord is teaching you. Let him show you the path that he has for you to take, and then walk in it. Let his Word also comfort you in your afflictions and in your heartaches so that you can see that all suffering has a purpose, and that it is for our good, to help us to mature in our walks of faith in the Lord and to grow stronger in faith and in determination to follow the Lord in obedience despite what everyone around us is doing or saying, and despite rejection, too.

And, yes, if we are following the Lord Jesus with such purity of devotion to him as this, we will be persecuted for our walks of faith and for our testimonies for the Lord and for his word. And there will be wicked people who will try to get us to go back to living in sin, or who will lie to us, or who will try to bait us into a senseless argument, or who will try to prove to us that we don’t have to obey the Lord and his commandments, because they are of Satan, and so they want us to deny our Lord and to fall into sin.

But in all the testings of life, we must remain steadfast and faithful to our Lord. If your faith is being challenged by others who are teaching the Scriptures out of context, go to that context and read what the Scriptures are really saying so that you do not fall into their traps. And there are many traps out there via social media sites and memes and videos and preacher’s sermons and TV shows and movies, etc., all of which are teaching a false Jesus and a false gospel by teaching the Scriptures out of context. Beware!

If you come across a passage of Scripture that seems to not say what you believe, use Bible study tools, if possible, to locate similar passages of Scripture, and then compare Scripture with Scripture in order to get the true teaching. For if the majority of the verses seem to say one thing, and a singular passage seems to say something else, then go with what the Scriptures teach as a whole unit, especially in the New Testament under the New Covenant. And do all this under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

And the reason that all of this is critically important, for the Word of God to be a lamp to our feet, is because there are so many liars out there who are teaching the Scriptures out of context, and who are twisting them to say what they do not say if taught in the appropriate context. And they are deceiving naïve and gullible people by the masses. And we can be deceived, too, if we are not people who study the Scriptures in their context, and if we are not testing what we are hearing against the Scriptures, in context.

[Matthew 7:15-23; Matthew 24:11-14; John 10:1-15; Romans 16:17-19; 2 Corinthians 11:3,13-15; Ephesians 4:11-16; Philippians 3:2; 2 Peter 2:1-22; 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22; 1 Timothy 1:3-7; 1 Timothy 6:3-10; 2 Timothy 3:1-9; 1 John 4:1-6; Jude 1:1-25]

For Our Nation  

An Original Work / September 11, 2012

Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.

Jesus Christ is gently calling

You to follow Him in all ways.

Trust Him with your life today.

Make Him your Lord and your Savior.

Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.

He will forgive you of your sin;

Cleanse your heart, made new within.

Men betraying: Our trust fraying.

On our knees to God we’re praying,

Seeking God to give us answers

That are only found in Him.

God is sovereign over all things.

Nothing from His mind escaping.

He has all things under His command,

And will work all for good.

Jesus Christ is gently calling

You to follow Him in all ways.

Men deceiving: We’re believing

In our Lord, and interceding

For our nation and its people

To obey their God today.

He is our hope for our future.

For our wounds He offers suture.

He is all we need for this life.

Trust Him with your life today.

https://vimeo.com/379406352

(1) https://runwithit.blog/2023/03/05/toxic-bible/