Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path. PSALM 119:105 (NLT)

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Morning light takes longer to arrive now. Evening shadows gather earlier and earlier. Our clocks will adjust next weekend and sunlight will illumine the skies earlier than it does now. Likewise, nightfall will settle in quicker than some of us prefer. I for one began grieving the loss of sunlight when it got dark before nine o’clock. 

I heard one pastor say that this weekend is the time to set our clocks back. If he did not make the necessary adjustment, he is going to be late for church today. 

Days sometimes seem dark. With all our world has been through this year, these are indeed days of darkness. Dark days and dark nights each require light to show the way. Listen to how the Message paraphrases this verse:

By your words I can see where I am going; 
they throw a beam of light on my dark path.

Every child who ever attended Sunday School has heard this verse. They were most likely asked to commit it to memory. Even those who rebel against such memory work can clearly recall the King James Version’s translation, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”

A long, black flashlight sits on my bed table. It makes a nice weapon even when the batteries are dead. It is doubly effective when it has fresh power. Committing Bible verses, prayers, and stories to memory shapes the ways we think, pray, work, and relate. They truly light our paths. 

God’s words of truth and life hidden in our hearts give us thoughts to think, ideas to ponder, insights awaiting moments of meditation. Start with something simple. Continue with something meaningful. Write verses by hand on index cards or in a notebook. Review them regularly. Turn them into prayers. 

God’s words of truth and life are embers for kindling fires. They are batteries empowering beams of light. They are illumination for darkening days. 

* A place to start: Proverbs 3:5, 6

* A prayer to shape your prayers: Matthew 6:9-13

* A promise to trust: Joshua 1:9; Hebrews 13:5

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I will memorize the Bible to provide light to live by.

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Our Father, sink your words, your truth, deep into my heart. Guide my steps by your words of wisdom. Teach me how to live the life you designed for me. Amen.