November 21, 2023

“Your word is a lamp to my feet, And a light to my path.” ps 119:105 nkjv    Unless one is born again [born of the Spirit], there is no light for them to see:

“But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” 1 cor 2:14 nkjv

“Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law [Torah] of God, nor indeed can be.” rom 8:7 nkjv

The enlightening power of the Torah [instruction-Yahweh’s Word] is only available to the one with a spiritual perception… which provides a natural and normal awareness that knows right from wrong, good from evil, and holy from ungodly influences… i.e., light from darkness, etc. The lamp and light of ps 119:105 are real illuminations in a believer's life. The divine Holy Spirit is in direct contact with the born again spirit of a believer. A caveat is that the believer must voluntarily and agreeably choose to see the light [Word of God] and walk in its path.

My wife gave me new Bible in 1969, when I rededicated my life to walking with Jesus [Yeshua]… I had stumbled from pitfalls that always beset the one who takes their focus off of the “light.” This light is not a light such as the sun overhead, but is an inner light that can guide you with certainty and is always faithful… of course my choices had muddied the waters. In April of 1970, I wrote in the front of that Bible (which I still have, with lots of notes penciled on its pages): “This book will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from this book.”

Because Abraham “believed” Yahweh, it is recorded that Yahweh said [about Abraham]:

“And I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven; I will give to your descendants all these lands; and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; 5 because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.” gen 26:4-5 nkjv

Abraham (who “obeyed My voice”) believed and obeyed the “commandments, statutes and laws,” some 400 plus years before the written Torah was given Moses at Mt Sinai… Abraham is said to be the father of our faith… everything is about and by faith. The “light” of Yahweh's Torah is always available, but we must want to keep and obey the expectations of Yahweh's conditions [“His voice” of His Word]; it is said that the “keep and obey,” concept, is to “guard an protect, defend” the garden of our hearts… I think that was the command Yahweh gave Adam… concerning the garden, to “tend and keep it.” gen 2:15 nkjv.

Then comes Yeshua… to teach us how to tend and keep the garden, Yahweh’s way:

“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.” mat 5:17-18 nkjv

Thankfully, Yahweh saw the end from the beginning, and everything in between… especially our need to have help “tending and keeping the garden.” Yahweh, was/is a perfect designer of motivation and willingness for believers to keep on “keeping and tending” the garden... He provided a way; Paul writes these words:

“ Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” phil 2:12-13 nkjv

Now here is the essence of my thoughts about the light and the choice we make “seeing” it, and walking faithfully in its way. The most stable “stool” is said to be a three-legged stool; as it always has contact with its footing… unless one of the legs is removed. I think that the “light” we have been filled with sits upon our willingness to keep all three legs of our spiritual stool in place. The Torah Word, the Savior Yeshua, and the Holy Spirit are the three “legs” that provide the “works of God, in us, both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”

Choosing to continue in sin, or procrastinate one’s correction of wayward living, especially knowing that the “book that keeps you from sin,” has called you back to the light, is treacherous to say the least… we have no guarantee or control of “tomorrow,” today is the only day for salvation. Consider these words of Moses to the Children of Israel [also to us]:

“ I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;” deut 30:19 nkjv

Shalom, John