Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Psalm 119:105
RECOMMENDED READING: Psalm 119:105-112 “105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.106 I have sworn, and I will perform it, that I will keep thy righteous judgments.107 I am afflicted very much: quicken me, O Lord, according unto thy word.108 Accept, I beseech thee, the freewill offerings of my mouth, O Lord, and teach me thy judgments.109 My soul is continually in my hand: yet do I not forget thy law.110 The wicked have laid a snare for me: yet I erred not from thy precepts.111 Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever: for they are the rejoicing of my heart.112 I have inclined mine heart to perform thy statutes alway, even unto the end..”
COMMENTS:
Today’s scripture gives us insight of the value and purpose of scripture. Psalm 119 was written long before Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, before His wisdom and teachings recorded in the New Testament, before Paul’s letters and John’s revelation and the giving of the Holy Spirit to us at Pentecost. Long before the New Testament was written and included as scripture. But these words apply just as well to our New Testament as they do to the Old Testament and its stories and teachings, and the rest of Psalms. As we read scripture, we discover how God helped and revealed Himself to seekers long ago and how they approached and communicated and communed with Him. We also discover the benefits and blessings that came from doing so. We also discover the consequences of rejected God’s open hand offering redemption and fellowship. Those consequences were severe at times, but always followed again by opportunity for redemption again.
But we must not forget the warning from New Testament scripture and from Old Testament examples is that judgment and death are permanent and the opportunity for redemption is only good while we are alive on earth. That is why God has done so much and delayed judgment as long as He could and can so we all would have as many opportunities as possible to avoid judgment. But His warning is that His Grace will not be in force forever, so we need to receive it while Grace is still available and before it is too late.
Works and good deeds cannot cancel sin or buy our way to forgiveness or heaven but do much to bless and encourage and strengthen us and others. We do good deeds in order to praise and thank Him for His Grace, not to earn that Grace. We do good deeds in order to encourage and show others how to receive His Grace too. Joy is meant to be shared, not hoarded or bartered. That means we leave keeping track of our good deeds to others or others good deeds to us to God and not to ourselves.
Scripture gives God’s divine guidance, His wisdom, and His assurance and reassurance. By neglecting it, we neglect a tremendous resource available to us and transformation the Holy Spirit can and will do in us if we are open and listen to scripture’s teaching and instruction and insights and examples.
Christians in many parts of the world would give anything to have a Bible and be able to read and study and memorize its verses. They treat verses they receive and learn as priceless jewels. We would do well to follow their example.
God not only reveals existing paths and choices, but creates new ones not available before, but unless we are open, we won’t know or see or be willing to consider those choices and options. Satan is good at distracting and blinding and giving us excuses and lies to keep us from meditating on God’s Word. He knows how powerful Scripture so doesn’t want us exposed to it. But God lets us choose to follow or reject Him, to open or close His Word, to listen or ignore, to obey or disobey.
“We are indeed the light of the world—but only if our switch is turned on.”
John Hagee
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 166 blog posts I have made plus a link to my devotional journal material archives from 2013 to present.
You may also access my facebook page and request to be my friend and automatically receive my daily journal publications daily. My facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/Don1951
My hope and prayer is, they will become a source of encouragement and tools in ministry for you.
Published by donsdevotions
Don McDaniel - Who am I?
Hello everyone and welcome to my devotional journal blog. In order to get acquainted and help you get to know me a bit better before considering following my blog, let me give you some background. I am a 74-year-old male and a retired engineer. I worked for a major supplier of underground mining equipment for nearly 40 years before retiring in 2012. Arlene and I have been happily married since April 1978 and have two grown – married children, one granddaughter and 2 step grandsons. I joined the local United Methodist church at age 12 after accepting Christ as my Savior at age 10 during revival services in that same church in 1961, so I have been a “Born Again” Christian all my teen years and adult life. Christ has helped and guided me all that time. He guided me in choosing my wife and life’s career. My life journey has included regrets and failures, but God has picked me up and protected and spared me from life threatening consequences and dangers more times than I can recall or count. But many I do recall and encourage and motivate me to trust and follow Christ with more passion than ever.
Christmas 2011 our daughter gave Arlene and I each a devotional journal. Journals were books with devotion for each day and space to give personal impressions and thoughts related to each devotion. Her desire was to have a lasting legacy she could refer back to and share with her children and grandchildren especially after we are gone. I was touched by that gesture. My parents and Arlene’s were devout Christians, so we would have greatly treasured having that from them, so we felt a sense of urgency to honor her request. I finished my journal first and returned it to our daughter the following Christmas. I’m glad I did it then because Parkinson’s has caused my hand writing to deteriorate since then. The exercise was such a blessing for me. Discipline of keeping journal helped me gain a deeper walk with Christ and greater discipline in honoring my time of prayer and devotion with Him each day. So, I decided to continue the practice but since I could not find a paper journal I liked, I decided to create my own. I had already been receiving electronic devotions by email every day from several sources, my favorite being “Turning Point” from Dr. David Jeremiah. What I decided to do was to include devotional scripture but add my own thoughts and comments only so there would be no issue of copyright infringement. Creating and maintaining journal by computer also addressed my deteriorating handwriting ability. I started an electronic devotion journal January 1, 2013 and have been faithful to that practice every day since. I prayed about method and level of distribution. My initial intent was to only share it with my two children by email, but quickly discovered others in my family, my church, and friends from work (both retired and still working) who knew me and wanted to be included in distribution when they learned what I was doing. I now distribute by email my daily journal at the beginning of each month to over 150 friends and relatives. God has richly blessed and encouraged me.
I am concerned with the state of our church and nation, and world for that matter, believing we are living in the end times the prophets of old and Christ have talked about in scripture, so time is short. I desire to be true to my Savior and a witness to help others come to a saving knowledge of Him and equipped to share His Good News too. If my journal can encourage and help others, I believe God wants me to share it. I struggled, for a time at first, because I know many others keep similar journals but only for their own edification and do not want to share them because they are private.
However, Christ has stirred my heart to share it as a witness tool.
Our son and daughter have a long-time friend who grew up with them who we also befriended nearly 25 years ago. He had a lot of family problems, so would gravitate to our family as a refuge and eventually thought of us as his adopted parents and he as our adopted son. We lost contact with him for some time when he grew up and left home. He traveled around the U.S. and eventually ended up in Ukraine where he resided for next 10 years. He had to return to the US to renew his visa and took opportunity to recommend I begin a blog of my devotions and helped me set it up. He is also an active blogger and has been an email subscriber to my journal for several months, so he has been suggesting I expand my distribution by starting a blog to get broader exposure. After reflection and prayer, I concluded God was in this, so he is helping me set up my blog site. This brief autobiography is my first entry.
He returned to Ukraine, then resided there until circumstanced made him decide to move back to US with his young son. This biography was my first post February 29, 2016 .
I have published 600 posts from 2016-2023 automatically sent to all my Facebook friends, published on WordPress to be accessible to anyone curious or seeking a deeper walk with God. I decided to take a sebatical to prepare for a new chapter. In 2014 I was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease which affects patient ability to walk, drive, do physical work, and eventually talk. By mid 2023 it became evident our home for last 42 years (previously owned by my parents for previous 44 years and by my mother's grandparents for 39 years before that) would eventually not meet my needs so we decided to sell it and move into 1st floor of a duplex we also owned that was the town school from 1855-1913. Likewise, the property was requiring more maintenance that I was no longer able to keep up with. 2023 involved selling our home and moving into apartment next door and then in early 2025 an opportunity to move closer to our daughter and granddaughter in Kentucky which was completed in May 2025. For a number of months I have been seeking direction seeking God's direction and timing to return to blogging as my journey with Parkinson's continues to unfold with God's guiding hand in mine.
I hope and pray my devotions will continue to be a blessing for you. God certainly has become closer and more real to me since started this blog in 2016. I have spent time with Him studying scripture and praying and listening and writing this journal. I will continue seeking God’s help and will welcome your input to make this site as meaningful as I can and true to God, who is motivating me to create and maintain it. I will also welcome input in order to make format more meaningful going forward.
Don & Arlene McDaniel
In His Service,
Email: mcdanieldonald769@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Don1951
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 600+ blog posts I have made plus a link to my devotional journal material archives from 2013 to present (https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com/2016/03/02/link-to-dons-devotional-journal-entries-2013/ )
You may also access my Facebook page and request to be my friend and automatically receive my daily journal publications daily. My Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/Dondevotionals/ Many thanks to a pastor and dear brother in Christ in Nepal who set up the above Facebook page to help and encourage and give opportunity for more to explore and use my devotional blog materials. View all posts by donsdevotions
donsdevotions 