This transcript has been automatically generated, and therefore may not be 100% accurate.

Great. Thanks, Steph. Okay, shall we pray before we turn to look at this verse? Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for all that it is for us and the way you speak to us through it.

And as we come to look at your word in this verse this evening, we pray that you would indeed speak to our hearts and we might grow in our knowledge of you. In Jesus name, amen. Now, back in 2009, a guy called doctor Jan Salman did some experiments in the forest in Germany and also the Sahara desert. And he wanted to answer this question. And the question was, do people actually really walk round and round in circles when they get lost?

So what he did was he dropped off some volunteers in those two places in Germany, in the forest in Germany and the Sahara desert, and he told them to walk, show them which direction to walk in, told them to walk for 4 hours to see what happened. I have to say I was a bit disappointed, actually, because the research was a little bit inconclusive, I think, really. But what he did find is that the people in the desert, they didn't actually walk around in circles, but they didn't manage to walk in the right direction all the time. They either veered off to the left or to the right. And the people in the forest, well, they were fine all the time.

It was daytime, but when it got to nighttime, they did indeed walk around and around in circles. So. Well, it got me thinking, and I think life can be a bit like that sometimes, can't it? We can sometimes feel like maybe we're walking around in circles, perhaps. Or if we don't feel like that, then maybe we don't always feel that we're headed in quite the right direction.

We may be perhaps veering off a bit to the left or to the right, and we can easily feel a little bit lost at times. And that's where this memory verse comes in, isn't it? This week, this verse that we're looking at, psalm 105. Do you remember it? Your word?

Very good. Excellent. Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. In the midst of a confusing world, it's easy to feel lost. And the Bible.

The Bible, God's word is a constant. It's a constant. It's always there. It's always been there. A constant that we can rely on to guide us.

I think there's a lot of confusion today, isn't there, about what is right and what is wrong? And when we begin to talk about the authority of God's word, well, people tend to have a problem with that, don't they? Many people struggle with that. But this verse reminds us that actually without God's word we are lost, lost in the dark, wandering off in circles or in the wrong direction. And actually we're morally confused without God's word.

So how does God's word help us in a dark world? Well, as we look at this verse together, I want to focus on two things. It's not hard to focus on two things in this verse because really there are only two things. Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light on our path. So that's how we're going to split this up this evening.

So first of all, you're as a lamp for our feet. When the psalmist wrote psalm 119, obviously there weren't such things as street lamps, street lights. People didn't have battery operated torches, obviously. No, at nighttime people needed to light a fire, not just for warmth, but for light. Imagine what it would be like travelling at that time if it was a moonless night, then it would be pitch black and maybe you wouldn't even be able to see your hand in front of your face.

And of course you can't see your hand in front of your face, you can't see your feet, you can't see where you're putting your feet down in the dark. So people needed portable lamps. They had portable lamps. They were very small sort of saucer shaped lamps that would fit on your hand and they would carry them around and they were. They didn't produce much light, but they produced just enough light so that you could see your next step, you could take your next step.

So they were in effect walking in the light.

And that's why the psalmist says, God's word is a lamp for my feet. God's word is a lamp for my feet. It helps us to negotiate our way through a dark world. It helps us to walk in the light.

Most people these days don't see the importance of the Bible, do they? As we've already said, they see it as kind of unnecessary or irrelevant. And actually what people do, I think, these days is they live their lives according to what seems right to them. If it seems right, that's good. Well, they believe what sounds good.

And actually I think even as christians we can do that a little bit, sometimes go by what seems right. What sounds good. In one John one five six, we read, God is lightning. In him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with God and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth.

That's quite harsh, isn't it? So we don't want to walk in the darkness. We don't want to walk in the darkness. We want to walk in the light. God is light, and we want to walk in his way.

Walking in the light is like walking in the truth, actually. How do we know that truth? How do we know that truth? Well, it's revealed to us by God through scripture. It's revealed to us by God through scripture.

The more we read the Bible, the more we know of that truth. The more we know of how to live in God's way. The more we know of how to live in the way that we were always meant to live. In the midst of all the darkness around us, we can live in the light. We can walk in the light.

Having a Bible is rather like carrying around one of those little torches that show your next step and enable you to walk in the light. That's why it's important to learn bits of scripture, because actually, when we learn bits of scripture, when we come up against something that maybe is a bit of a struggle or anything, really, God can prompt us with those words that are in our heads, the scripture we've learned in the rest of this psalm, this section of psalm 119 that Steph read to us. The psalmist talks about some of the difficulties that he faced in life. But even in the midst of those dark situations, he is committed to God's word. He's committed to God's word.

He's still reading God's word, and he still sees the importance of God's word. God's word brings light in dark situations. If we're struggling with life, if life is a bit of a struggle, we shouldn't stop reading the Bible. We need to keep going. We need to keep reading it, maybe even read it more at those times.

So God's word is a light for our feet, and it helps us to walk in the light. It helps us to walk in God's way. Secondly, God's word is a light on our path. The hebrew word for path that was used here, it means navigable pass or trail. In other words, God's word makes our path navigable.

It helps us to navigate our way through life. The psalmist here is saying, I want your word to guide me. I want your word to show me the way through this dark world.

When we come to church, we live in the welkin over there, and when we come to church, we cut through, usually cut through a twitten running between the houses there. That's great. But in the winter it's a little bit dark, actually, and normally get my phone out and put the torch on and that helps. But, you know, sometimes I don't know what it is. Perhaps I can't be bothered to get my phone out or.

But sometimes I don't turn the torch on. I walk through without turning the torch on. I know I'm living life on the edge, aren't I? And I just kind of hope that I'll feel my way through and I won't bump into the wheelie brins that are stored through that path. But one of the great things is there are some people, very helpfully, who live in the Welkin, and we're very thankful to those people.

One of those people is the bilsons, who put little led lights on their fence posts at the bottom of their garden. So you're walking through and it's picture black and you think, oh, I might bump into a wheelie bin. And then suddenly the path is illuminated before you and it guides you on your way. Well, God's word is like that, isn't it? Guides us on our way.

He guides us in ways which are quite often quite beyond our understanding. Proverbs 16 nine says, in our hearts, in their hearts, humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps. How does he establish our steps? Well, I think he uses anything and everything to achieve his plans for us. Nothing can thwart his plans, but one of the main ways he guides us is through his word, through the Bible.

The psalmist says, God's word is a lamp from our feet, a light on my path, a light for the path ahead. In other words, God's word guides us for the here and now. The things that we come up against every day helps us put our feet in the right place, but it also helps us as we look into the future.

So what does that look like practically? How does God guide us through scripture? Well, two Timothy three, a lot of people will know this first. Two Timothy 316 17. All scripture is God breathed and useful for teaching and rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

So God guides us. He teaches us through scripture. That's how he guides us. The scriptures teach us how God wants us to live. They rebuke us when we depart from his way.

They correct us and they show us the way back. They train us in the right way to go. The word of God is there to guide us every step of the way. But also God guides us directly through his word. Hebrews 412 says this, for the word of God is alive and active, sharper than any double edged sword.

It penetrates even the dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

God's word is living and active. Do you know what? This is a powerful book. It is a really powerful book. It's the most powerful book in the world.

And yet we perhaps have a tendency maybe to leave it on the shelf sometimes and we shouldn't leave it under the coffee table. Maybe we don't open that app on our phone quite as much as we should.

God speaks to us personally through his word. He directs us, he encourages us, he advises us, he reveals things to us through his word. Personally. Personally. I think I've probably mentioned this before in a sermon, probably not so long ago, actually.

But it fits quite nicely here. One of the, one of the bands I used to like when in the 1980s and I was in my twenties. Share that with at least one of the first person here probably is after the fire. Okay. After the fire were a christian band, actually.

We've got a picture of them, I think. Can we see? There they are. After the fire. They're all right when they camp.

Yeah, after the fire, they were a christian band, but they were trying to make their way in as a secular band. Actually, I think it's a picture of me. I've got a click here. It's a picture of me. There we go.

That's me when I like. Well, I still like after fire, but I really like that you can't quite see. I do have my after the fire t shirt on there and it's rather hidden by the guitar, which I couldn't actually play.

But yeah, after the fire were a christian band and they were trying to make their way in the mainstream, as a mainstream act. And they did have a one top ten hit, actually. But one of the things I hadn't realised, well, I think I'm right with this. Until recently, the significance of the name after the fire, I don't know this, but I'm assuming this is where they got it from. Because in one kings, the bit where Elijah is told to go and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord.

For the Lord is about to pass by. You can point her off now, actually, the Lord is about to pass by and Elijah doesn't hear the Lord's voice in the powerful wind that follows, or in the earthquake, or in the fire, he hears the gentle whisper of the Lord's voice. After the fire. I'm assuming that's where they got their name from. After the fire.

You know, when we read the Bible, just like Elijah, we come into the Lord's presence. We stand in the Lord's presence, or maybe we sit in the Lord's presence and we too can listen for that gentle voice, that gentle whisper of the Lord speaking to our hearts. Speaking to our hearts. The spirit takes scripture and he applies it to our hearts. He awakens a response in us when we read the Bible.

And he leads us, helps us to put it into practise. Isn't this amazing? Don't you think this is amazing? Why wouldn't we read the Bible? Why wouldn't we pick up the Bible and read it all the time?

Always happens if we read the Bible. That's why it's so important to read the Bible regularly. That's how we grow in faith. That's how we get to know more of God in our lives, by reading scripture. Jeremiah.

Another famous verse. Actually this. Jeremiah 20 913 14. You will seek me and find me. When you search for me with all your heart, I will be found by you, says the Lord.

Well, the search begins here, doesn't it? In the scripture. That's where the search begins. So, do you know, if you struggle reading the Bible, and we all do, don't we? We all struggle to read it.

It's hard to really get down to it sometimes. If you struggle with understanding the Bible, can I just say to you, read it anyway. Read it anyway. Because God's word is powerful. It's powerful.

His word brings about transformation in us, in our hearts. No matter what his word is powerful. There is transformation because of the power of his word. That's not going to happen if we're not going to read it. Read the Bible also.

There are many useful tools out there to help us if we struggle to read the Bible regularly, if we struggle with the understanding, lots of notes and things. I'm not going to go into that now, but there are plenty of things out there to help, one I particularly like, actually, and I've gone on about this with a few people before, but lectio 365, it's an app on your phone and some lovely people read scripture to you and then help you apply it in your lives. You put your headphones in. It's a great way to get into scripture, particularly maybe if you haven't. If you're struggling to get into reading the Bible regularly, I can recommend that.

But I want to finish actually with a prayer from lection 365. So let's bow our heads, shall we? To pray.

Father God, what I know of you will only be a fraction of who you are. Jesus, open my mind to see you and understand the scriptures. Spirit, move my heart from familiar to fascinated until it is ablaze with your unfailing love. Amen.