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Listen while you read: "All Hail To Thee Immanuel"1 (Lyrics) |
The city of Muscat, in the Sultanate of Muscat and Oman, was still a very biblical-looking place when I lived and worked there in 1965-1966. On the east side is the Gulf of Oman, and in all other directions is the vast Arabian desert. The whole city was at that time surrounded by a very big wall. The only place where one could enter was through the main gate. The wall was about 12 to 15 feet wide at that point. There were wooden benches built into the side of the gate and a number of older men would sit there and discuss matters of importance during the day. The gate had a solid wooden door in it and within that door was a smaller door, called the Judas Gate. The big door would be opened at seven o'clock in the morning and be closed again at seven in the evening.
On a regular basis, I would go in to Muscat from the camp in the desert where I lived, to go to the bank or to do some other business. I had to leave my vehicle in the parking lot outside the gate and walk the narrow streets and lanes to wherever I had to go.
One time, I was invited to the oil company executive's residence inside the wall for a social evening of some kind. I parked my vehicle in the parking lot and walked to this person's residence. At 7:00 p.m., the gate was locked as usual, and when it was time for me to leave, my host called a servant to lead me through the gate to the parking lot. It was very dark, so he was carrying an oil lantern, and thus led the way to the gate, through the little door, and on into the parking area.
Later, I thought about that: he led me along an unknown path down a dark street, and his lantern lit our way, one step at the time. And it reminded me of a verse:
Psalm 119:105 – Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. (NKJV)
And isn't that the way it is with God's Word? As we walk down life's pathway, His Word does indeed light our path. Sometimes, we walk in the darkness of ill health or sorrow, and we will be guided by the light of God's Word to a place of comfort or understanding or patience. There are times when we stumble along life's pathway trying to cope with some problem or other, and God's Word gives us insight as to what to do.
God's Word is indeed a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.
Prayer: Our Father in heaven, we pray that as we walk this pathway of life, we will always be guided by Your Word, which is indeed a lamp unto our feet. May we all be brought to Jesus, the light of the world. Amen.
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Well done.
Excellent devotion.
Good reminder Joel. God bless.
Thank you for these words. Blessings.
Joel, what a lovely devotional! Thank-you for sharing.
Hi: Boy were you lucky to be there it must have felt like in Jesus’s time. Your description of the gate really overwhelmed me to think that it has stood for such a long time.
Dear Joel,
This was a great analogy! You’ve had some interesting travels abroad. Thank you for sharing those memories. I always enjoy your writing.
Blessings.
Joel:
Right from the beginning I guessed that this was your devotional. It is just coincidence that the verse in this devotional was also part of the service this morning.
Thank you so much, Joel, for this highly interesting Devotional, especially considering that I myself was born and raised in the Persian Gulf and know very well that part of the world and it’s customs etc. Kuwait, for example, also had a huge wall all around the city in the 1950s and one huge door at one section of the wall through which the “Bedus or Bedouins” (desert tribesmen) and oil company employees et al entered the city.
Very interesting!
Blessings.
Awakened by weather before dawn, my husband and I arose to check out what was happening. Turning on lights was one thing, but we turned on the computer (both have screens and use of computers) and on this particular beginning of a Sunday, we read your devotional. Good thoughts, good beginning – thank you. We’re preparing now for a Sunday worship service and will be sharing our earlier time of devotion. May God bless you and those around you as you walk with God through this Sabbath day and through the upcoming week.
(Georgia USA)
Thank you for your devotional this morning. God bless you and keep writing.
Hi Joel,
I appreciated this devotional very much!
Keep up the good work.
Dear Joel,
Thank you for showing us more of the Light that is always with us and never goes out. Jesus said, “I am the Light of the world.” And he is the one who said, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” We know that “In him was life, and that life was the light of men.” “… he puts it on its stand, so that those who come in can see the light.” Truly, “…we have seen a great Light.”
Keep writing.
Dear Joel,
Greetings in the wonderful name of our Lord Jesus!
Thanks so much for the devotional this morning. I give your devotionals out to the guys that I work with at our local correctional facility. Usually I volunteer as a chaplain a couple of days a week.
Your devotional today was one that I would like to give especially to one of the inmates I am seeing… but probably to others as well.
May God continue to bless you as you serve Him this way.
Thanks for the Devotional,
My son works in Dubai and I had the pleasure of seeing some of the spots you mentioned.
May we all have the grace to walk in the light God’s word provides for us, for there truly can be no other way safe enough in today’s world.