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Keep Close to Your Guide

Psalm 119:105
“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.”

Have you ever thought that you would like to look for new direction—set new plans and goals for the future—in hopes that you might find improvement in your life? But will your plans and goals lead you where you want to go? Will the path you take lead you to the true peace and happiness that many of us desire in our lives?

If you have ever visited the Mammoth Caves in Kentucky, one thing you quickly learn is that it is necessary to listen to your guide. When the guide reaches “The Cathedral” within the cave, he mounts a rock called “The Pulpit.” There, he states he’s going to preach a short sermon. All he says is, “Keep close to your guide.” It is a wise message. If the tourists don’t follow the guide’s warning, they can easily get lost or fall off into the cave’s unseen darkness. Just like someone would not try to go it alone in the cave, it would also be foolhardy to try to find one’s way through the world without the lamp of God’s Word.

It is so very easy to be led astray in our world today. We find that Satan’s pulls can be disguised in what seems to be popular opinion. Everyone else is doing it or thinks that it is okay, so what is so wrong? We hear statements like, “If it feels good, do it.” But it is important that we realize to what we are appealing. We are asking our sinful nature to make decisions concerning what is right and wrong. We are asking our sinful human nature to be faithful to God’s will for our lives.

Given the opportunity, our nature and Satan will lead us astray every time. But this is nothing new. From the beginning of time, mankind thought they were wiser and more aware than God. We are blinded by our sin. In our sin, we live in a world of darkness that does not want to be exposed to the light of God in Jesus Christ. Apart from that light, we are left to falter and fall, being lost in our sin and falling into the abyss of eternal separation from God.

But God has called us out of the darkness of our sin into the light of Jesus Christ through His Word. God‘s Word is a light to direct our lives and leads us to eternal life with Him. Through God’s Word, the Holy Spirit gives us the gift of faith whereby we trust in God for all that we need for our body and soul.

As we read and learn from God’s Word, He not only leads us in our everyday life to live for Him, but He also directs our way to Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. In Christ we find that the broken relationship that we had with God is healed, our sins are forgiven, and we are blessed with the gift of eternal life.

We don’t have to guess and grope our way through life, falling into the temptation of Satan that would lead us away from God. For God’s Word is the lamp which guides our way and enables us to keep our focus on Christ, the Lamb of God, who was given as the final and complete sacrifice for our sins, so that all who believe would be saved. In Christ we find and have true peace and joy in this life and forevermore. “Keep close to your Guide. Keep your eye on the Lamb.”

Dear Heavenly Father, we give You thanks that You gave us Your Word, and in that Word You give us true peace and joy in Your Son, Jesus Christ. Keep us ever mindful of Your love for us and keep us on the path that leads only to You. Amen.