NEW Today’s AMI QT Devotional is written by Andrew Kim who serves as the executive pastor at Tapestry Church in Los Angeles.  Andrew, a graduate of Eternity Bible College, is currently attending Fuller Theological Seminary. 

Devotional Thoughts for Today

“The Light of God’s Word Amid Darkness”

Psalm 119:105

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”

Whenever disruptions and crisis come into our lives, particularly like the one we are in right now, it forces us to re-ask some of the fundamental questions of life. Prior to the pandemic, much of our attention and focus were on things of secondary importance—what we were going to eat or where we might go for a vacation. But as our lives were interrupted, and we began to read the news and come face to face with death counts and job losses, it shifted our focus on some of the deeper things about life: questions regarding our purpose, mortality, and what our lives have been about. Suffering has a way of putting a type of pressure on our lives that begins to reveal the condition of our hearts. We begin to see what we’ve actually worshipped, treasured, and trusted in. In other words, suffering insists that we do some soul-searching.

What’s interesting about this moment in history is that the shelter-in-place orders that most of us are under have afforded us the space and time to actually wrestle with these questions. Before our lives were changed by COVID-19, one of our biggest battles as Christians was against a culture of distraction, busyness, and entertainment that essentially insulated us from having to deal with some of the deeper issues of life. We simply distracted ourselves from having to come face to face with those things. However, as I’ve been praying about this season, I sense that God desires for us to leverage this moment and press into deep reflection in His presence, specifically by immersing ourselves in His word.

Today’s passage in Psalm 119:105 is a simple but powerful verse that employs the image of a lamp lighting a person’s path in the darkness. In a moment of incredible darkness, confusion, and uncertainty, I’m not sure if there is a more important moment than the present to be in the word of God. At a time where there is so much information, we cannot allow our culture’s narrative to dictate how we interpret and live through a season such as this. Let us embed ourselves into the story of God and allow the truths of God to bring light into the dark places of our lives. We must be soaked in His words and allow it to wash over our anxiety, fears, and worry, and let it provide direction and hope at a time where uncertainty permeates our world.

Prayer: God, I confess that my heart is filled with uncertainty and fear, but help me to respond by going before Your word. I pray that Your word would come alive and that Your Spirit would enlighten the eyes of my heart. In those moments when I’m reading, I ask that You would replace my fears and doubts with faith and trust. Amen.

Bible Reading for Today: Isaiah 25

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Lunch Break Study

Read Psalm 1:1-6: “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; ² but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. ³ He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. ⁴ The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. ⁵ Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
⁶ for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.”

Questions to Consider

1. What allows the blessed man to bear fruit and not wither?
2. Why do you think the wicked are like chaff that the wind drives away?
3. How do you think you can cultivate a delight for God’s word?

Notes

1. The blessed man is like a tree that is rooted in the word of God. It says that his delight is in the law of the LORD, and that’s demonstrated by his practice of meditating on that law day and night. The word of God is symbolized by the streams of water that the tree draws life from. In the same way, we must go to God’s word day and night and receive life.
2. Those who are wicked and are life chaff have no root and no foundation in anything sturdy. Their lives are rooted in shallow ground.
3. Personal response.

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Evening Reflection

Reflect on this and be motivated to partake of God’s Word daily.

“We read scripture in order to be refreshed in our memory and understanding of the story within which we ourselves are actors, to be reminded where it has come from and where it is going to, and hence what our own part within it ought to be.” – N.T. Wright