Let me hear of your unfailing love each morning, for I am trusting you. Show me where to walk, for I give myself to you. Psalm 143: 8

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

            One recent morning, the third- and fourth-graders and I were discussing the above verse.  I asked, "If you're in the dark and have a high-powered flashlight with you, but never turn it on, will it help you to see?"

            "Nooooooo!"  they replied in unison.

            "So, if you have a Bible and never open and read it, can its words be a lamp to your feet and a light to your path?"  I asked.

            "Nooooooo!"  they all said again, knowing that was the "right" answer, the one I was hoping for.

            There was a pause, and then one fourth-grade boy, a thinker, wise beyond his ten years, spoke up excitedly, "Oh, I get it!  If it's open, it's on!"  I knew that he'd really understood, and his words suddenly gave me one of the most beautiful mental images of the Word I've ever experienced.  "Yes!" I told him, "All that light shining up out of it as you read!"  Since then, I've pictured that light every time I've opened my Bible.

            God said to Jeremiah:

Ask me and I will tell you remarkable secrets you do not know about things to come.                                                                                                        Jeremiah 33: 3

            While this was a particular promise to Jeremiah at a particular time in Israel's history, I believe the general principal still applies, even today, because God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  He wants to reveal remarkable secrets to us.  He wants  us to know Him.  He wants to be in relationship with us.  With me.  With you.

            Writing to Timothy about the qualifications for being an elder in the church, the Apostle Paul directed:

They must be committed to the mystery of the faith now revealed and live with a clear conscience.                                                                                          I Timothy 3:9

Later in the same letter, Paul wrote:

Without question, this is the great mystery of our faith. . . I Timothy 3: 16a (emphasis mine)

            Do you know this mystery?  If not, I encourage you to open the light-filled Word, and make the discovery for yourself.  If you already know, wonderful!  Either way, as we head into this season of shorter and darker days, I invite you to regularly open the Bible with me and let its marvelous Light shine to light your path.

Daye Phillippo

November 2014