¹⁰⁵Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
¹⁰⁶ I have sworn an oath and confirmed it, to keep your righteous rules.
¹⁰⁷ I am severely afflicted; give me life, O Lord, according to your word!
¹⁰⁸ Accept my freewill offerings of praise, O Lord, and teach me your rules.
¹⁰⁹ I hold my life in my hand continually, but I do not forget your law.
¹¹⁰ The wicked have laid a snare for me, but I do not stray from your precepts.
¹¹¹ Your testimonies are my heritage forever, for they are the joy of my heart.
¹¹² I incline my heart to perform your statutes forever, to the end.

Psalm 119:105-112

Have you ever been in our worship center when the lights are all turned off? Without the overhead lights, the scant illumination from the small windows on the doors barely reaches a few feet into the room. No matter how familiar one may be after spending countless hours in a room, without light, a normally safe and inviting place becomes a dark and dangerous space to navigate, even if you can clearly “see the light on the other side” of the room from the doors. Don’t try to walk in there with the lights off; it can go very badly.

Yet, so many of us walk around spiritually in the dark all the time. The familiar routines, places, and people of our daily lives are so comfortable, we figure we can navigate just fine though our lives, Sunday to Sunday, from one patch of light to the next. The pitfalls awaiting us if we try to navigate life in the spiritual dark are much more perilous than the fall we can take in a dark room, or the toe we stub on some unseen physical obstacle.

The Psalmist asks God to accept their freewill offering of praise. Certainly, one could go to the temple and offer an actual physical freewill gift. But a gift of praise? Well, that is something that can be offered anywhere, anytime. Yes, we do it each Sunday, but having a grateful attitude for all things, each meal, each sunrise, each moment of peace or joy, is a great way of “keeping the light on,” so to speak. To be thankful to God at all times is to keep that connection, that light, on.

Hopefully, you can see the wisdom of not wandering around the church in the dark, but wandering around throughout the week in spiritual darkness from Sunday to Sunday is all the more perilous. Let’s keep our little lights shining in praise and gratitude toward God, and God’s Word will illuminate our lives and keep us safely in the center of His will.

Prayer for Today: