Your word is a lamp to my feet, a light to my path. These simple words from Psalm 119:105 (NKJV) form the spiritual backbone of the Christ follower’s journey of formation. In short, the God’s revelation—His Word—in inspired Scripture marks our path and lights our way as it leads us home.
Two years ago, when we built our house, my husband and I chose a lot that didn’t have many streetlights around. Having grown up in the country, my husband loves a dark night where the stars become visible and light pollution remains at bay.
We found the perfect spot.
We soon discovered, however, that avoiding light pollution could also result in passing our driveway when approaching in the dark!
So, we decided to put in two rustic posts with solar lights attached at the top to mark our driveway, giving notice for anyone coming to visit or arriving home. Unassuming in their structure, these posts serve to remind me of three central spiritual truths.
Light Shows the Way
Six months ago, we unexpectedly experienced a hurricane in our area, hundreds of miles inland from the coast. Oddly enough, when Hurricane Helene uprooted pines and oaks, layering them over our driveway, our post lights remained standing. However, in order to allow the debris clean-up crews to have access, we temporarily removed them so they wouldn’t get damaged.
We noticed their absence acutely. On a dark night, our driveway disappeared from view until you were right up on it, at which point it was too late to turn.
Have you ever had those places in life when you couldn’t see clearly where to turn? It is in these moments that Scripture, illuminated by the counsel of the Holy Spirit, awakens within us the desire to know more of the God who loves, covers, and leads us (1 John 4:13). So much more than a map to find God, the Bible is the unfolding of God’s heart toward us, the same heart that will not abandon us when the road becomes dark.
The road He lights may not be the one we had expected, but of this we can be sure – it will lead us straight to His heart.
Light Reflects
The beauty of solar lights is their ability to be placed anywhere that allows them the space to absorb the sun’s light. Every time I leave our driveway before the sun has risen, I marvel at the lights steadily beaming at the end of our driveway. Many hours past the sun’s setting, and just moments before it rises again, they still mark the path, releasing the solar energy they absorbed the day before.
Engaging with God’s revelation in Scripture isn’t about marking rules or checking boxes. It is being close with the One who made us. So close, in fact, that our very nature is changed by His presence (2 Corinthians 5:17, Romans 12:1-2). Matthew says of Jesus’ arrival that “the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, And upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death Light has dawned” (4:16, NKVJ).
Jesus, the one true Light, came that we might know Him and reflect His very nature to a lost and dying world. As His Word fills us and changes us, His love emanates from within us, seen by any who are near, drawing them to Himself (Matthew 5:14–16).
Because life is complicated, relationships are no less so. In our imperfections, even in our own desperate need for Christ, His love becomes visible. Perfection will forever be illusive on this side of heaven, but this one thing is sure: the more time we spend with Jesus, the more we reflect Him.
Light Dispels the Darkness
The darkness is real. Not just on a stretch of country road, it hides in the regions of the heart. Jeremiah 17:9 (NKJV) reminds us, “The heart [is] deceitful above all [things], And desperately wicked; Who can know it?” It takes a truth stronger than our biases, more just than our skewed perceptions, and more expansive than our finite perspectives to bring real and lasting freedom.
Only Christ can set us free.
Following his confrontation with the Pharisees who wanted to stone a woman caught in the sin of adultery, Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life” (John 8:12 NKJV). They came with stone, rules to follow, and standards to keep.
Jesus gave Himself. The Word became flesh, satisfying the law with sacrificial love.
Sin will always be present in this world, and with it the darkness that threatens to parse our hope, destroy our lives, and suffocate our very breath. Jesus, however, came to breath us life. He is our hope. The one who enables us to fight temptation, to stand against spiritual darkness, and to walk in truth each day.
Regardless of how we feel.
Regardless of what comes.
Regardless of the enemy’s plans.
Christ, the light of the world, dispels the darkness.
More than Enough
More than a symbolic map for salvation, through Scripture, Jesus meets us in our everyday lives. But if we’re looking for a list of turns to make, notations of mile-markers, or announcements of our ETA’s to the destination of our best life now, we will make the living, breathing revelation of God into something it was never intended to be.
Jesus is so much more precious than we could ever imagine. And His voice in Scripture is far more powerful than we often understand. Revealing the way, the truth, and the life we were intended live in (John 14:6), Jesus shines brighter than any dark road we travel.
So travel on, dear one. You’ve got all the light you need.
—Written by Regina Franklin. Used by permission from the author.
