To Encourage You

Psalm 19:8b “the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes”

The portion of scripture above uses the word “commandment” to refer to the Word of God. It says that the commandment of God is “pure,” a word also translated in other places in the Bible as “clean” or “clear.”  The idea is that God has given us very clear commands. He has told us what He expects of us, and He has made those expectations crystal clear. They are not obscure. They are not hard to understand. Even a child can know what God wants.  We can choose to muddle through life with no clear direction, wondering why we are here and where we are going.  We can wonder if we’re living a life and making choices that we will one day regret.  Or we can listen to God’s very clear words that tell us why we are here, where we are going, and how we should live in the interim.  Christians can go through life living or doing whatever “feels right” but never really knowing if it is right.  As one pastor put it to me once, believers can get “glimpses of light” as they hear sermons preached from time to time or listen to the teachings about the Word of God on TV or radio. Of course, these things are helpful, but if that’s all we ever do, it can be like driving a car with malfunctioning and flickering lights at night, which can be a nerve-wracking experience.  However, when believers simply open their Bible on their own, read it, study it, memorize it, and meditate on it, they are availing themselves of the “high beams” of God’s Word.  It’s this Word that is meant by God to enlighten our spiritual eyes as a lamp to our feet and a light to our path (Psalm 119:105).  There is no other thing on the face of the earth that can do this for us.  God has made it all so very clear, if we will but listen, and obey.