A Holy Flashlight



You ever step on a LEGO? Man, those things hurt.

I have a house with kids. We have toys all over the place and sometimes they don't get completely picked up. Since I'm the last one to go to bed, I have to turn out all the lights and make my way to the bedroom in the dark. I, inevitably, will step on a toy, usually a small, painful one like a LEGO.

Boy, does it hurt. I will grab my foot, hop on one leg to the couch or chair, and quickly make sure I have punctured a major artery. I'm embellishing a bit, but you get the point. Those small little toys can become large stumbling blocks in the dark.

So, I use my flashlight to illuminate the path. More accurately, I turn my phone into a flashlight to navigate in the dark. It casts light onto the floor so I can see where I'm walking. It helps me to avoid the tiny, but painful, toys in my path that can make me fall, stumble, and be distracted by the pain.

In Psalm 119:105-112, the Psalmist writes about that. He calls God's word a lamp for his feet and a light for his path. It's a spiritual flashlight to illuminate the dark paths of life.

That's because, as the Psalmist put it, there are obstacles on the path. There are temptations to trip us up. There are problems that could cause us to stumble and distract us with the pain of consequences. But God's word shines a light on them. It helps us to see the obstacles and to know the truth.

The Bible teaches about God's standard. It teaches us that sin has consequences. It teaches us that Jesus has a path for us and he came to Earth to prove. It teaches that he died on a cross and rose again. It teaches that in the end Jesus wins.

I thank God for his spiritual flashlight. I helps me avoid the LEGOs of life in my path.

But a flashlight only works if you use it.

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