There's an "app" for that!

By your words I can see where I'm going; they throw a beam of light on my dark path.  I've committed myself and I'll never turn back from living by your righteous order. 

(Psalm 119:105-106 The Message)

I recently bought a new Android phone.  The apps on the phone are amazing.  I can find out the point value of a meal on my Weight Watcher app, followed by price comparisons at my favorite shopping locales!  My favorite is the Bible app (surprised?) - - it allows me to view my Bible from anywhere I am, in whatever version I want to read it in at that moment.  This means I am never without the Word at my side!  I like that!

The possibilities are endless, if I wanted to take the time to load all those apps on the phone!  One app stood out for my mother from all the others just shortly after I acquired the new phone.  As we venture off to bed each night, we go through the routine of shutting off lights one-by-one.  Usually, I go ahead of mom to turn on the lights in the part of the house where we are moving toward, but this one night I was not quite on the ball.  She was moving ahead of me!  Without the lights on!

Now, that may not seem like too much to many of you, but for a woman losing her eyesight, darkness is a fearful thing!  The app my mother was so impressed with was that night was the "flashlight" that comes pre-loaded on the phone.  Now, you may not share the same delight in this little device, but for a woman losing her eyesight, it is priceless.  You see, she found it amazing to see how much that bright light can actually illuminate her path in the darkness!  Since I had not flipped on the hall lights, I hit the app button and instantly, she was able to navigate the hallway with ease.

This is the way God's Word is for us - - it helps us navigate the twists and turns of life with grace.  The sad thing is we don't always appreciate the benefits of the light we receive until it is no longer visible to us!  Mom's visual losses present many challenges for her (and me).  We are always adapting the environment to be as safe for her as possible - - even if that means it may not be exactly "picture perfect".  

I think many of us navigate through life expecting that it will always be "picture perfect".  Whenever the need arises to "rearrange" the "furnishings" of our life in order to "adapt" to the latest demands of life, we freak out!  Here's where we can draw from the Word - - allowing it to illuminate our path so we can navigate through the latest demands with "grace".  Light is what brings us safely through - - it serves to provide us the "grace" to traverse the toughest paths with ease.

That tiny app in my phone serves no purpose until I turn it on.  The Word serves no purpose until you draw from its richness!  The flashlight illuminates my path down the dark corridors that give passage to my next destination in much the same way the Word of God illuminates my passage through some of the darkest corridors of life!   Oftentimes, we don't know the light has "faded" from our view until we find ourselves fumbling around in the darkness!

David said earlier in this chapter, "Your Word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against you."  He reminds us that the Word stands ready to illuminate our path, filling it with graceful passage whenever it is needed.  Don't miss the point - - he "pre-loaded" the "app" of God's Word so that when he needed it most he only needed to "activate the app"!  Maybe we would do well to check the status of our "apps" today!  We might need a little "loading"!