Psalm 119:105 (NIV)
When I picture God’s word being a lamp for my feet, my twenty-first century mind imagines a lamp shining a bright path at least ten feet in front of me. However, scripture was not written by a person with a twenty-first century mindset. This passage was written by a person with a first century mindset. Their lamps were very different from ours.
When I visited an ancient town in Israel, I was given a first century lamp as a souvenir. These lamps had the capacity to shed light one foot in front of the person carrying them. It was just enough light for the person to be able to stop themselves from an injury directly in front of them, but not nearly enough light to see further than the next step ahead.
This metaphor vividly portrays the concept of living by faith and not by sight. This concept emulates not worrying about tomorrow but trusting in God’s sovereignty and control. We may not know our future or be able to control the circumstances around us, but God’s word gives us enough light to walk through every moment under His protection. His word will guide and direct our steps. We just have to believe He will continue doing so for every consecutive step.
Be blessed,
Noree
Photo Credit: http://www.epalladioartworkshop.com/OILLAMPS/index.htm
I’ve recently thought about all the “hats” that a mom wears. Wouldn’t it be something if we tried to wear them all at once? Our responsibilities are myriad. As a chef, we don an apron for our cooking role. We put on fashion wear to meet the beauty standards we’re held to. We could carry a children’s book to show how we should be reading to our children, with a robe over the whole mess for the romance we need to put into our marriage. Wait! We also need a checklist and calculator to frugally stay within the household budget. Of course, we can’t forget our workout gear because we need to stay healthy. Let’s also carry a Bible for our daily devotion. I think we may need a few more hands! 
Jeremiah was a prophet of the Old Testament who had the challenging task of proclaiming to the Israelites that they would be destroyed in divine judgement. One day the Lord spoke to Jeremiah and told him to “Go down to the potter’s house” Jeremiah 18:3 NIV, to witness a man working at the wheel. To picture this scene, we can imagine that Jeremiah most likely went down the grassy slopes of the Valley of Ben Hinnom near the Potsherd Gate (overlooking the dump for broken pottery). At his house, the potter began shaping a piece of clay at his wheel and it became marred (the Hebrew word means “ruined”) so the potter took the same clay and formed it into a new pot. The Lord then gave Jeremiah a message based on the scene he had just watched. “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does? … Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand” Jeremiah 18:6 NIV. This hopeful message meant that even though Israel would be destroyed, God would keep his promise and renew them. The verses here are specifically about Israel, but the Bible also shows us that this metaphor about clay is universal. Isaiah 64:8 NIV says “you are our Father; we are the clay and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.”