This Little Light Of Mine

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

God’s Word is a lamp, not a floodlight. A lamp casts enough light to see where we are, the room we are in, maybe slightly into the next room. It isn’t enough to see down the street. If we ask for wisdom and insight, He shows us enough light to guide our steps and show us our individual path. His light does not show us every detail of our journey. It doesn’t show us the end of the road, just enough to take the next few steps. It doesn’t show us everyone else’s path and how they all intersect. It just shows us our own space.

Your lamp is to light your way, show you the steps you should be taking. Not everyone’s light will show the same steps as yours. We each have our own light, our own path. When your light intersects with someone else’s light, the light gets brighter. When a whole community gets together, and everyone has their individual lights turned on, it can be seen by the people out in the darkness so that they can be drawn toward it. Each individual light can have an impact on the darkness, but a whole community of lights can drive it away more effectively.

Light is attractive. Pulling someone into your light can help them to see better. But just simply pulling them in doesn’t make the light brighter. The goal should be to lend them some of your light so that they can find the switch to turn on their own lamp. Then the light gets brighter and the path is more visible. When each of us carries our own lamp, and walks our own part of the path, the path gets a little wider and more obvious to anyone searching for it.

Your part of the path is just a small part of the great journey, but a very important part. Some will walk a similar path, but the footsteps won’t be exactly the same. If we all walked in exactly the same steps, the road would be harder to see. Each of us must walk the part of the path that is lighted by our lamp, so that more of the road is visible.

If one man walks through a grassy meadow, his trail is hard to see. However, if several men walk together through that meadow, side by side but each taking a slightly different course, the trail becomes easier to follow.

Even when we veer off course, or step off to the side of our intended path, God uses those detours to widen the road as He steers us back. Those detours may get close enough for someone else, who is struggling, to be able to see their way onto the road. Someone may get a glimpse of light as they are stumbling through the dark, be drawn to it, be led to other lights, and learn to turn on their own lamp.

Don’t hide your light when you find yourself on a detour. It can be tempting to turn it off so that we won’t be seen. But it’s on the detours that we need the light the most to guide us back. And maybe someone else will see how to get there too. So let it shine wherever you happen to be, not just when you know you’re on the right road. As we navigate the detours we cut more trails that widen the road. And the wider the road, the more people will be close enough to find it.

When you see someone who is struggling in the dark, or with only a tiny spark, get close enough to lend them a little of your light. Show them how to find that switch to turn on their own. Then join your lights and continue on the journey.