"But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day." (Proverbs 4:18)
This beautiful promise is inserted in the midst of a sober warning against taking the broad, well-traveled path of the ungodly. "Enter not into the path of the wicked. . . . Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away. . . . The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble" (Proverbs 4:14-15, 19).
In contrast to the path of darkness, there is the shining path of the just, leading all the way to "the perfect day" where there is no more night (Revelation 22:5).
And what is the light that keeps the pathway shining? "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path" (Psalm 119:105). "The LORD is my light and my salvation. . . . lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies" (Psalm 27:1, 11). It is a frightening experience to drive a dark highway or walk a treacherous pathway on a dark night when there are no lights to shine on it, but that is exactly the peril of the soul without Christ. "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin" (1 John 1:7). Jesus said, "I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life" (John 8:12).
The longer and farther we travel in the light of His Word, the brighter grows the path. How vitally important, therefore, that we keep in His Word and to His Word, for this is our one light in this dark place. "For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life" (Proverbs 6:23). "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6). HMM
