Elliot - A Lamp unto My Feet: the Bibles Light for Your Daily Walk

1985 Elisabeth Elliot

Published by Revell
a division of Baker Publishing Group
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.revellbooks.com

Revell edition published 2014

ISBN 978-1-4412-2492-7

Previously published by Regal Books in 2004.

Originally published as A Lamp for My Feet by Servant Publications in 1985.

Ebook edition originally created 2013

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meansfor example, electronic, photocopy, recordingwithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the The New English Bible. The Delegates of Oxford University Press and The Syndics of the Cambridge University Press 1961, 1970, 1989. Reprinted by permission.

Other versions used are:

JBThe Jerusalem Bible, copyright 1966 by Darton, Longman and Todd, Ltd. and Doubleday and Company, Inc. All rights reserved.

KJVKing James Version. Authorized King James Version.

NIVScripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

PhillipsThe New Testament in Modern English, Revised Edition, J. B. Phillips, Translator. J. B. Phillips 1958, 1960, 1972. Used by permission of Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc., 866 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10022.

RSVFrom the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1946, 1952, and 1971 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission.

TLBScripture quotations marked (TLB) are taken from The Living Bible, copyright 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL 60189. All rights reserved.

T HY WORD IS A LAMP
UNTO MY FEET,
AND A LIGHT UNTO
MY PATH .

P SALM 119: 105, KJV

There is not much occasion in America today to walk dark pathways with only a little lamp. It is a world filled with artificial light of many kindsstreetlights, traffic lights, headlights, floodlights, neon lights, flashlights, klieg lights, spotlights. But for all of mans history, until this century, lamps were needed. In ancient times a tiny clay lamp was sometimes fastened to the thong of a sandal so that the pool of light cast was sufficient only for a single step. The traveler took that step and found light enough for the next. So the psalmist wrote, Thy word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light on my path (Ps. 119:105). Solomon exhorted his son to observe his fathers commands and not to reject his mothers teaching, for a command is a lamp, and teaching a light (Prov. 6:23).

Approaching the age of 60, I think it is reasonable to admit that I am, by the biblical norm for life expectancy, old. In America today it is forbidden to use the word. We are senior citizens, golden agers, keen-agers, mature, anything but old. The assumption is that old equals useless. It has not always been so. In other times and places old has been a term of respect, because the old were assumed to have learned one or two things that could help to make the pathway of life a little clearer to those who followed. It was not thought that the old had learned all they could hope to learn, however. To me, old age is a gift. It is therefore a privilege. It is therefore a responsibility. I have a great deal yet to learn. I am sure of that, and by the grace of God I want to learn it. May I say with the psalmist, I have thought much about the course of my life and always turned back to thy instruction. I have found more joy along the path of thy instruction than in any kind of wealth (Ps. 119:59,14). To me, the commandments, that is, all that the Word of God comprises, are a lamp. This book is made up only of reflectionsreflections of the true light (though the reflector may distort), written over a period of five or six years, indoors, outdoors, usually early in the morning in some solitary place but occasionally in an airplane or motel room. I have always been aware, ever since I was very small, of needing direction. I have gotten itfirst from parents who were quite clear about what was right and what was wrong, what they wanted of us and what they didnt want. I got it from teachers in public school (they were allowed in those unenlightened days to make what are now called value judgments) and from teachers in Sunday School. I got it from the Bible and from many books. Before I learned to read, I was read toat least twice a day from the Bible and usually from another book or two as well. At family prayers my father sometimes read a childrens paraphrase of the Bible, but when he opened his own Bible it was the Authorized Version (King James Version). We heard it seven days a week, and consequently our minds were filled with thousands of phrases (effortlessly memorized) of flawless English and shaped by those majestic cadences. This was a priceless gift from our parents, which of course we had no appreciation for at the time. Growing up, I began to be aware of something far more important: My parents really believed that Book and honestly tried to live their whole lives in the light that it shed.

As soon as I learned to read, I was given a leather-bound Bible, inscribed by my parents, which I kept on my bedside table and carried to church. Occasionally I read it by myself, but not very much, so far as I remember, until I went away to boarding school. Homesickness drove me to seek comfort where I knew my parents had found itin the Bible. My father had given me Deuteronomy 31:8 (KJV) to lean on: The Lord, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed. Strong words for a 14-year-old, words originally spoken by Moses when he turned over to Joshua the staggering burden of leading Israel. It did not occur to me to question my right to claim them. It seemed reasonable to believe that the God who would lead Joshua and had promised not to fail or forsake him would most certainly not fail or forsake a lonely girl. If there was nothing for Joshua to fear in the face of a so much greater task, there was nothing for me to fear either. I confess I was still afraid, sometimes, and have been afraid since those school years. Far more often I have been dismayed, but the lamp has always been there, shining its light if only I would pay attention and walk where it shone, reminding me that there is, after all, no real reason for fear.

Many students ask me for help and direction for their lives. It is always heartening to know that there are those who are willing to receive the kind they know I want to offer, for I always go back to my source: the path of thy commandments (Ps. 119:35, KJV). And I desperately want them to find what I have found along that path: joy. So often they fear it will be something quite other than joy. But look, I say, if were confused, we need somebody to show us the way and tell us what to doin other words, we need a Master. He has been this way before. Wouldnt a sensible person pay attention to what He says and conscientiously try to understand, to apply the truth and to obey the instructions? Hes leading us to our Promised Land! There will be fullness of joy there, and there is plenty of joy en route. Believe me. So I offer these suggestions, which have helped me for more than half a century: