A Lamp Shining in the Dark

2 Peter 1:19
“So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts.”

The Word of God is described as a lamp many places in scripture. Peter does it again here. He calls it a lamp shining in a dark place. That dark place is the heart.

Proverbs 21:2 says, “Every man’s way is right in his own eyes, But the LORD weighs the hearts.” This is natural. Without the influence of God’s Word, we are adrift at sea without a compass. We are spun around and off track. The problem is we don’t know it. Culture provides it’s direction and speaks of it fervently. Those who go outside it’s bounds are judged harshly. However, if it is outside of God’s Word, it’s in darkness.

If we aren’t following The Lord, we are going away from Him. The world is on a contrary course. Much like the religious world and the culture of Jesus’ day didn’t recognize Him. More there that, they were hostile to Him. They did what they could to silence Him. If we aren’t in the bible, we are drifting away from Him.

We need God’s Word to shine the light in our dark places. We know that, so we should be thirsty for His Word. A little light a little illumination, much light, much illumination. We should go for much light.

One reason we don’t do this is because God’s Word usually has a delayed response. Jesus compared it to seed in His parable. It gets planted and takes time to grow and produce fruit. Liberal sowing now will produce a full garden next season.

Lord, help us to value Your Word and invest in it. Thank You that You shine Your light and cause the growth.