Daily Devotions

You may be like me in that there are “unfinished spaces” around or in your home that you’re dreaming of getting done. Twenty-six years ago, my family and I moved into a house that we had built. We had spent months planning the layout, the colors, the options, which all required many decisions. When we were deciding about where to build, we knew we wanted the lot to be suitable for a walkout basement. We envisioned cookouts, quiet nights, firepit chats with friends and neighbors, and family gatherings in the shade on summer evenings. Move-in day was three days before Christmas.

We got our walkout basement, and the walkout door led to a small concrete patio just outside. But the even larger space under the deck above and to the side was unfinished. Not a big deal when it’s -5 degrees and snowing all winter, but it certainly was not what we wanted long-term. So, the next spring as the lawn was starting to take root, and the landscaping in the front of the house was leafing out, the space under the deck was nothing but a muddy mess. We needed a vision and a plan to make it usable and be an extension of the landscaping from the front of the house. We found designs and plans in a book, got the necessary tools and materials, asked a professional for tips, and then spent the rest of the summer putting a brick walkway and landscape under the deck. Even after 26 years the reclaimed street brick walkway, the lights along the path, and the hasta beds are still in place. Many peaceful, happy memories have been created there with the hopes for many, many more.   

We all have those “unfinished spaces” in our lives that only God’s beautiful plan and design can fulfill. The author of Psalms is a man who had a great deal of pain and suffering in his life. Like enduring a long cold winter, he comes through it with a deep and passionate understanding of God’s unfailing love and compassion (Psalm 119:75–77). Throughout his affliction, the author clings to the truths he learns from the Scriptures, which are eternal, like bricks on a walkway and that “stand firm in the heavens” (Psalm 119:89–91). His love for the Word of God and his dedication to remember it and live by it is a theme that is repeated over and over.

The whole 176 verses of Psalm 119 are an acrostic of the Hebrew alphabet. Like individual bricks that make a walkway, there are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet, and this Psalm contains 22 units of 8 verses each. Each of the 22 sections is given a letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and each line in that section begins with that letter. It’s for how often it refers to God’s written revelation, his Word. It is referred to in almost every verse.

But it is the light of God’s Word that illuminates where we are going along the path of his making. (Psalm 119:105) “Your word is a lamp to my feet. And a light to my path.” It is possible to walk the path of life without knowing where our steps will fall. In darkness we don’t know if our foot will step on good ground or dangerous ground; we are not self-aware. God’s Word can be a lamp to our feet. It is only the light of God’s Word that make our steps clear. We would not know where to step without the guidance of God’s Word.

So, this summer, make your project (your life) brighter by illuminating it with the light of Jesus Christ. He is the light of the world. He is the Word of God incarnate. He is the everlasting and eternal word of love, hope, and direction.

Contemplate and pray about these questions: