GOD’S BREATH AND THE EMBERS

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

David gives such a rich word picture here that I can hardly get my mind and heart around it.  Lamps, fire, the oil with which to light them, all of these symbols are rich in our Jewish history.  The lamps in the tabernacle were to be kept burning, never extinguished, to symbolize the eternal presence of God.  The parallels between God and fire, God and light, are numerous through the Torah. 

The commandment of God is like a lamp kept burning by the oil of the Spirit.  Jesus is the Word that is never extinguished.  He spoke from before the creation of the world.  He still speaks.  He will always speak and by His Word our future is eternal and secure.  His Word, His voice, speaks today and as long as we draw near to its light and depend on it to guide our way, we will not have to wonder if our steps are taking us in the right direction.

Perhaps you face some dark places today.  The light flickers and you barely discern where to place your foot in the surrounding darkness.  There is something radical you and I can do when we face the threat of the night.  We open the Word.  We read it out-loud.  We ask the Holy Spirit to breathe over us with the Word that has been spoken.  His breath stirs the dying embers of our faith.  The flame is re-ignited and the fire comes to life.  By its glow, we once again have insight, comfort, the presence of God, and a plan for how to walk out this next moment of our lives.  We are renewed by the Word and by the Spirit, the ‘ruach’, the breath of God.

I long for the fire to grow with the years of my life.  I am counting on the campfire turning into a pillar of fire.  With a pillar of fire in front of me, there will be no desperate search for the light.  It will blaze, I may even shield my eyes from the heat of it, but one thing is for sure, I can always see like it’s broad daylight.

Holy Spirit, this lesson fills me with Your Spirit.  Every part of me is engaged and affected.  Burn in me.  Amen