“He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings” (Psalm 40:2).

“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (Psalm 119:105).

When we accept the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, He does two things for us. First of all, He brings us out of the horrible pit in which we are as sinners. Being a sinner is like being in quicksand; the more you struggle against the sucking power of the thick mud, the more you are dragged down. I have never been caught in quicksand, but I have read about those who have been trapped in it. Unless someone comes and helps you, it is impossible to get out by yourself. You just sink more and more until you are sucked under the mud. But the Lord has lifted us out of this “miry clay,” and set our feet on a rock. That rock is the Lord Jesus Himself.

But this is not all. The Lord does not save us, and then leave us to find our own way as Christians. No, His Word provides a lamp for our feet, and a light for our path. The lamp for our feet shows us the next step. It does not show us the whole pathway, but only the next step, for that is all we need. As we move along, the lamp shows us a further step, and we have guidance all the way along.

But the light shows us the end of the journey. We do not know everything about the path right now, but we know both the next step, and the end of the path. We know where we are going, for the Lord Jesus has gone ahead, and where He is, there we will be. We can confidently walk the path of faith, for the Lord Jesus has promised to guide us all the way home. We never need to stumble in that path, for we have a perfect lamp by which to be guided.