“How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path. Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.”— Psalm 119:103-105, NIV
I often see people go through a spiritual drought. More than once, I have found myself in this dry, dark place where God seems far away, and we feel even farther. It’s like being the children of Israel, once again wandering in the wilderness, trying to find our way.
That’s when I cling to the belief that we are being strengthened and matured through it all.
How we survive the wilderness experiences of our lives depends on our attitude toward God’s Word.
Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible, and I get such a kick out of reading it because King David got so excited writing about, of all things, the laws of God!
He sang about them. He put statutes of the law to music! He positively exulted in them.
In 119:14 he compared God’s testimonies to riches. In verse 15 he declared, “I will meditate on Your precepts.” Verse 24 says, “Your testimonies are my delight and my counselors.”
David was on to something. He loved God’s Word and he knew that the secret to enjoying life, even in the wilderness, was to turn to God’s Word with joy, expectation, and delight.
As children, we struggle to mature under our parents’ authority. When we are spiritually born again into the family of God, we become children again, re-parented by our heavenly Father, as we grow toward maturity and learn to trust Him.
Allow His Word to light your way, and the wilderness will not seem so daunting. Let His Word guide your feet, and you will never get lost.
“The blacker the night around us grew, the brighter and truer and more beautiful burned the Word of God.”
― Corrie ten Boom, The Hiding Place
