Your Word is a Lamp to My Feet – God’s Guidance In Darkness

Have you ever found yourself wandering in the dark?

When I was a teenager, my friends and I would go on walks in the woods behind my house. There was a trail that had been made by the town some time before. A lot of bikers would use this trail, as well as the high schools’ cross-country team. We thought it was fun to walk this trail at night time. There was something about it that would give you adrenaline. Walking into the unknown, or knowing it might be a bit dangerous for a group of teens to be wandering the woods. It was fun and exciting. We would grab our flash lights and set off. The girls would giggle with locked arms. The boys would wander in front and behind, casually jumping out to scare us. At a point in the walk, we would branch off into groups or pairs to talk or see what we could find.

One night, I got separated from the others, and boy, did fear rush through my body as I called out to people that were no longer there to answer me. I remember yelling out their names, and the only thing I got in return was the sound of crickets or the hooting owl off in the distance. Thankfully, I still had my handy dandy flashlight. Until I didn’t. Pure darkness set in along with the pit in my stomach that grew larger by the second. I couldn’t remember where I was or my way home. Let’s face it…I was lost. With no idea which way to turn, a dead flashlight, and a dead cellphone. It was so dark that I could barely see my own feet better yet anything in front of me. It was terrifying.

I remember thinking to myself: “God, please help me get home.” I believed there was a God out there that listened to me, although I wasn’t walking with Jesus at the time, and I did hold onto that little bit of faith in those moments. One foot in front of the other, I walked. I even took those steps with my arm out just waiting to run into something. I did run into branches, stepped in mud, and got pegged by a flying insect. Each step I took was terrifying, just wondering what I would run into next and was I even headed in the right direction.

Every few steps I would smack the flashlight. After what felt like the 100th time, it turned back on. The light was dim but it was there. That small ounce of light seemed bright in the dead of night, and it was what I needed to find my way home.

Years later, I find myself in the same position I did that night wandering in the woods.

Lost.

Have you been there? Maybe you are there now, and you landed your way on here just looking for hope that you can be found again.

Let me share something with you… The same power that turned that flashlight back on can be found in Psalm 119.

You can be found! By calling out to the God of the universe, believing that He sent His one and only Son to die for you, and immersing yourself in His word – it can be the light that leads you home again.