11 Dec God’s Word as My Life and Light
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Week #8 Devotional
God’s Word as My Life and Light
“I will never forget Your precepts, for by them You have given me life. . .
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. . . .”
Psalm 119:93, 105
My wife and I sat there stunned. Only a few months before, we were enjoying lunch with some new friends when the wife confided that she was diagnosed with liver cancer at 28 years old and had been fighting it for five years. Now, I had just received this message from her husband:
“We got the worst kind of news from the doctors late today. As you know, Katy has been struggling with sodium and potassium issues for the last few months. It seems that this stems from impending liver and kidney failure. There is nothing that they can do at this point to keep it at bay. They will soon release her to home hospice care.”
A few days later, she died peacefully at her home, only 33 years old. At her funeral, my friend talked about his wife’s struggle with the idea that God was crushing her with liver cancer. Why was she the victim of what seemed to be an old man’s disease? With the darkness of death looming around her, where did she find comfort and hope? Amidst her pain, my friend’s wife drew great hope from God’s promises of life found in His Word, specifically Isaiah’s Suffering Servant, one later revealed as God’s own Son. In Isaiah 53, we learn that ‘it was the will of Yhwh to crush Him’ (vs. 10). Because God crushed His Son on the cross, the incarnate Word offers us life amidst crushing loss.
What will you do when the events of life don’t make sense? Where will you turn for light during dark days? Often, we rely on human wisdom, turning to our own thoughts or running after the counsel of others. Yet, it is God’s Word that gives light and life, ‘The unfolding of Your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple’ (119:130). ‘This is my comfort in my affliction, that Your promise gives me life’ (119:50). Right before her death, my friend asked his wife how he could continue on without her. She responded, ‘There are so many people who have not heard God’s message of life!’ I pray that your study of God’s Word this semester has given you both life and light, to apply to your own life and to share with others!
Father, as we study this week, with the psalmist we ask, ‘Give us life according to Your Word’ (119:25). May You open our eyes through Your Word, shining light into the darkness of our lives and giving life in the midst of despair. May we never forget Your Word! In the name of Jesus our Savior, we pray! Amen.
How has God’s Word given you life and light during dark times? In what ways do you desire to take the light and life of God’s Word to others?
