Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light to my path.
Psalm 119:105
I've been raised around guns, and have been shooting (in some form or other) for most of my life. Yet yesterday, when taking a gun safety course , I learned something that I never either knew or quite understood before: when sighting the gun (aiming at the target using the gun's sights), the target is a distraction. What pistol instructors teach is that it's the front sight that is important. Most guns have two sights, the rear sight (Shaped a bit like a "u" or a "v" and a single front sight. When these align, you shoot straight. If you're focused on the target or the rear sights, it will lessen your ability to aim, and you won't hit what you're aiming at.
This really got me thinking about Psalm 119:105 (see above). Sin derives from an archery term, meaning "to miss the mark." Why would one miss a mark when aiming at a target? Much of it has to do with concentrating on the wrong things. There are several factors that come in to play when participating in target sports, but where one is aiming, how one is aiming, and the stance they take have everything to do with where they hit. So when the Psalmist says "your word is a lamp to my feet" he's stating the same thing the instructor was telling me yesterday: if you want to hit the target, you must be focused on the front sight. And how do we sight correctly? By looking at the world through God's word. God's word will keep us focused on the target, but we have to focus on His word, and not attaining the mark on our own terms. And what do marksmen do to hit the center every time? They train! They train until it is natural.
Many of us seem to be struggling to hit the mark in our walk with Christ. Why? Because we lack the discipline that the word of the Lord (and putting it in to practice) grants us. "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path" isn't just a wise saying, it's a way of life. When we learn to be disciplined in God's word, we put it in to practice, and we take each and every step in the Word of the Lord. We focus on that front sight, aligning our life it with it, and move on toward the mark God has set for our lives.
2 Peter 1:16-21
For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

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