Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    A Lamp Unto My Feet: The Bible's Light For Your Daily Walk
    A Lamp Unto My Feet: The Bible's Light For Your Daily Walk
    A Lamp Unto My Feet: The Bible's Light For Your Daily Walk
    Ebook233 pages3 hours

    A Lamp Unto My Feet: The Bible's Light For Your Daily Walk

    By Elisabeth Elliot

    5/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    "To me, the commandments, all that the Word of God comprises, are a lamp."--Elisabeth Elliot

    Elisabeth Elliot had an early acquaintance with the Bible. Before she could read or write, God's holy words were read aloud to her twice a day. In her life, this gift of a deep and personal association with Scripture has been priceless: a drink in times of thirst, an inspiration in times of fear, and a light in times of darkness. Join Elisabeth Elliot for six months of daily meditations, each holding the power to bring you deeper into God's abiding love.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBaker Publishing Group
    Release dateSep 24, 2004
    ISBN9781441224927
    A Lamp Unto My Feet: The Bible's Light For Your Daily Walk
    Author

    Elisabeth Elliot

    Elisabeth Elliot (1926-2015) was one of the most perceptive and popular Christian writers of the last century. The author of more than twenty books, including Passion and Purity, The Journals of Jim Elliot, and These Strange Ashes, Elliot offered guidance and encouragement to millions of readers worldwide. For more information about Elisabeth's books, visit ElisabethElliot.org.

    Read more from Elisabeth Elliot

    Related to A Lamp Unto My Feet

    Related ebooks

    Christianity For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Letters To The EDITOR

      Apr 22, 2022

      Dear readers, we love to hear your thoughts on the stories that we publish, what is going on around the world, and what the Lord has placed on your heart! Email your letter through to editor@joymag.co.za for a chance to be featured – please try to ke

      7 min read

    • Article

      Letters To The Editor

      Jan 1, 2021

      Dear readers, we love to hear your thoughts on the stories that we publish, what is going on around the world, and what the Lord has placed on your heart! Email your letter through to editor@joymag.co.za for a chance to be featured – please try to ke

      3 min read

    • Article

      Letters To The Editor

      Nov 27, 2020

      I I believe b that we are living in the end times as we read about in all the books of the Gospel and listen to what Jesus had said. He warned of pestilences and famines. I believe that Covid-19 is one of the pestilences, as well as all the locusts t

      7 min read

    • Article

      Booting The B-word

      Jul 6, 2019

      I’m not a religious person. That being said, growing up in a half-Hindu, half-Christian household in a Muslim country, I have a great respect for the sense of community and deeper, more positive life lessons that organised religion encourages, and I

      3 min read

    • Article

      Friday, July 1

      Jun 16, 2022

      Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:15 (KJV) LAST SUMMER, I VOLUNTEERED AT my church’s Vacation Bible School and worked with a group of rambunctious fift

      1 min read

    • Article

      Letters To The EDITOR

      Dec 29, 2023

      D ear readers, we love to hear your thoughts on the stories that we publish, what is going on around the world, and what the Lord has placed on your heart! Email your letter through to editor@joymag.co.za for a chance to be featured – please try to k

      7 min read

    • Article

      Consecutive Preterite

      Mar 19, 2024

      1.That summer I learned Biblical Hebrewwith Christian women heaving themselvestoward ministry one brick building at a time.We got along well, they and I and our teacher,a religious studies graduate student who spenteight hours a day transmitting the

      5 min read

    • Article

      Easter

      Apr 3, 2023

      Easter
      3 min read

    • Article

      Renew Your Mind

      Aug 26, 2022

      Many years ago I met a missionary in Hong Kong. He had a razor-sharp mind and a tender heart. I immediately knew I wanted to learn from him. His home was filled with books. While we were talking, he walked over to a bookcase, pulled out a thin paperb

      3 min read

    • Article

      Jesus Does Not Expect Much – He Expects EVERYTHING!

      Dec 29, 2023

      I thank the Lord for the wonderful, God-fearing parents who raised me in the ways of the Lord, but in my early 20s I had to come to the realisation that information about God is not the same as an intimate relationship with Him; that the Bible is mea

      3 min read

    • Article

      Five Things to Do to Discover Your Inner Mystic

      Mar 24, 2020

      1. Dedicate some part of your day to sitting in silence with God. First thing in the morning works best for me. I’ve found that a half hour is ideal, if I can manage it. Committing to it every day is important. You show up; God shows up. 2. Let go of

      1 min read

    • Article

      Man of Science, Man of Faith

      Sep 22, 2017

      Man of Science, Man of Faith
      14 min read

    • Article

      An Apex of Babble

      Mar 6, 2019

      An Apex of Babble
      13 min read

    • Article

      Love Born

      Sep 4, 2020

      Love Born
      3 min read

    • Article

      Friday, December 27

      Oct 15, 2019

      A YOUNG MAN I RECENTLY had a conversation with commented on a lyric he claimed was written by his favorite pop singer. “I love that!” he said. “Isn’t it, like, deep?” “You do know that’s from the Bible, don’t you?” I hoped he caught the importance of

      1 min read

    • Article

      ‘Shameless Audacity’

      Jul 22, 2019

      ‘Shameless Audacity’
      2 min read

    • Article

      Remember the Sabbath

      Jun 24, 2022

      Remember the Sabbath
      3 min read

    • Article

      The Unbelievable Tale Of A family’s Rescued Bible

      Feb 9, 2024

      For a number of years, I have had an interest in genealogy and tracing our family tree. It is like a combination of a scavenger hunt and a jigsaw puzzle. You have to find all the pieces before you can try to put them together. I have learnt to think

      3 min read

    • Article

      Thursday, October 4

      Aug 15, 2018

      I COULD SPEND HOURS RESEARCHING information about a topic that stirs my curiosity. If I had no other responsibilities in life, I’d easily become a full-time information junkie. In college I was fascinated with Kennedy’s Camelot years during the 1960s

      1 min read

    • Article

      Worldview?

      Dec 30, 2022

      Worldview?
      3 min read

    • Article

      From The EDITOR Let God’s Word Sustain And Direct You!

      Jul 21, 2023

      JOY! Magazine seeks to glorify God by educating and informing Christians of a biblical worldview and applying the Lordship of Jesus Christ to all areas of life. Strive for excellence and integrity in all things • Provide interesting, accurate, and

      1 min read

    • Article

      Wednesday, October 13

      Aug 14, 2021

      DO YOU EVER FIND YOUR eyes glazing over as you read familiar stories in the Bible? Recently I was reading through some of Jesus’s parables, and my brain tuned out. I’ve heard or read the stories a hundred times. Then I reached verse 52 and blinked. I

      1 min read

    • Article

      The Edge of Bethlehem

      Jul 26, 2021

      The Edge of Bethlehem
      18 min read

    • Article

      Letters To The EDITOR

      Dec 30, 2022

      Dear readers, we love to hear your thoughts on the stories that we publish, what is going on around the world, and what the Lord has placed on your heart! Email your letter through to editor@joymag.co.za for a chance to be featured – please try to ke

      8 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for A Lamp Unto My Feet

    5/5

    3 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      A Lamp Unto My Feet - Elisabeth Elliot

      © 1985 Elisabeth Elliot

      Published by Revell

      a division of Baker Publishing Group

      P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287

      www.revellbooks.com

      Revell edition published 2014

      Previously published by Regal Books in 2004.

      Originally published as A Lamp for My Feet by Servant Publications in 1985.

      Ebook edition originally created 2013

      Ebook corrections 02.24.2021, 06.09.2021

      All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

      ISBN 978-1-4412-2492-7

      All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the The New English Bible. © The Delegates of Oxford University Press and The Syndics of the Cambridge University Press 1961, 1970, 1989. Reprinted by permission.

      Other versions used are:

      JB—The Jerusalem Bible, copyright © 1966 by Darton, Longman and Todd, Ltd. and Doubleday and Company, Inc. All rights reserved.

      KJV—King James Version. Authorized King James Version.

      NIV—Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

      Phillips—The New Testament in Modern English, Revised Edition, J. B. Phillips, Translator. © J. B. Phillips 1958, 1960, 1972. Used by permission of Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc., 866 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10022.

      RSV—From the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1946, 1952, and 1971 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission.

      TLB—Scripture quotations marked (TLB) are taken from The Living Bible, copyright © 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL 60189. All rights reserved.

      CONTENTS

      Cover

      Title Page

      Copyright Page

      Epigraph

      Introduction

      Month One

      Day 1

      Day 2

      Day 3

      Day 4

      Day 5

      Day 6

      Day 7

      Day 8

      Day 9

      Day 10

      Day 11

      Day 12

      Day 13

      Day 14

      Day 15

      Day 16

      Day 17

      Day 18

      Day 19

      Day 20

      Day 21

      Day 22

      Day 23

      Day 24

      Day 25

      Day 26

      Day 27

      Day 28

      Day 29

      Day 30

      Day 31

      Month Two

      Day 1

      Day 2

      Day 3

      Day 4

      Day 5

      Day 6

      Day 7

      Day 8

      Day 9

      Day 10

      Day 11

      Day 12

      Day 13

      Day 14

      Day 15

      Day 16

      Day 17

      Day 18

      Day 19

      Day 20

      Day 21

      Day 22

      Day 23

      Day 24

      Day 25

      Day 26

      Day 27

      Day 28

      Day 29

      Day 30

      Day 31

      Month Three

      Day 1

      Day 2

      Day 3

      Day 4

      Day 5

      Day 6

      Day 7

      Day 8

      Day 9

      Day 10

      Day 11

      Day 12

      Day 13

      Day 14

      Day 15

      Day 16

      Day 17

      Day 18

      Day 19

      Day 20

      Day 21

      Day 22

      Day 23

      Day 24

      Day 25

      Day 26

      Day 27

      Day 28

      Day 29

      Day 30

      Day 31

      Month Four

      Day 1

      Day 2

      Day 3

      Day 4

      Day 5

      Day 6

      Day 7

      Day 8

      Day 9

      Day 10

      Day 11

      Day 12

      Day 13

      Day 14

      Day 15

      Day 16

      Day 17

      Day 18

      Day 19

      Day 20

      Day 21

      Day 22

      Day 23

      Day 24

      Day 25

      Day 26

      Day 27

      Day 28

      Day 29

      Day 30

      Day 31

      Month Five

      Day 1

      Day 2

      Day 3

      Day 4

      Day 5

      Day 6

      Day 7

      Day 8

      Day 9

      Day 10

      Day 11

      Day 12

      Day 13

      Day 14

      Day 15

      Day 16

      Day 17

      Day 18

      Day 19

      Day 20

      Day 21

      Day 22

      Day 23

      Day 24

      Day 25

      Day 26

      Day 27

      Day 28

      Day 29

      Day 30

      Day 31

      Month Six

      Day 1

      Day 2

      Day 3

      Day 4

      Day 5

      Day 6

      Day 7

      Day 8

      Day 9

      Day 10

      Day 11

      Day 12

      Day 13

      Day 14

      Day 15

      Day 16

      Day 17

      Day 18

      Day 19

      Day 20

      Day 21

      Day 22

      Day 23

      Day 24

      Day 25

      Day 26

      Day 27

      Day 28

      Day 29

      Day 30

      Day 31

      Endnotes

      About the Author

      Back Cover

      INTRODUCTION

      There is not much occasion in America today to walk dark pathways with only a little lamp. It is a world filled with artificial light of many kinds—streetlights, traffic lights, headlights, floodlights, neon lights, flashlights, klieg lights, spotlights. But for all of man’s history, until this century, lamps were needed. In ancient times a tiny clay lamp was sometimes fastened to the thong of a sandal so that the pool of light cast was sufficient only for a single step. The traveler took that step and found light enough for the next. So the psalmist wrote, Thy word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light on my path (Ps. 119:105). Solomon exhorted his son to observe his father’s commands and not to reject his mother’s teaching, for a command is a lamp, and teaching a light (Prov. 6:23).

      Approaching the age of 60, I think it is reasonable to admit that I am, by the biblical norm for life expectancy, old. In America today it is forbidden to use the word. We are senior citizens, golden agers, keen-agers, mature, anything but old. The assumption is that old equals useless. It has not always been so. In other times and places old has been a term of respect, because the old were assumed to have learned one or two things that could help to make the pathway of life a little clearer to those who followed. It was not thought that the old had learned all they could hope to learn, however. To me, old age is a gift. It is therefore a privilege. It is therefore a responsibility. I have a great deal yet to learn. I am sure of that, and by the grace of God I want to learn it. May I say with the psalmist, I have thought much about the course of my life and always turned back to thy instruction. I have found more joy along the path of thy instruction than in any kind of wealth (Ps. 119:59,14). To me, the commandments, that is, all that the Word of God comprises, are a lamp. This book is made up only of reflections—reflections of the true light (though the reflector may distort), written over a period of five or six years, indoors, outdoors, usually early in the morning in some solitary place but occasionally in an airplane or motel room. I have always been aware, ever since I was very small, of needing direction. I have gotten it—first from parents who were quite clear about what was right and what was wrong, what they wanted of us and what they didn’t want. I got it from teachers in public school (they were allowed in those unenlightened days to make what are now called value judgments) and from teachers in Sunday School. I got it from the Bible and from many books. Before I learned to read, I was read to—at least twice a day from the Bible and usually from another book or two as well. At family prayers my father sometimes read a children’s paraphrase of the Bible, but when he opened his own Bible it was the Authorized Version (King James Version). We heard it seven days a week, and consequently our minds were filled with thousands of phrases (effortlessly memorized) of flawless English and shaped by those majestic cadences. This was a priceless gift from our parents, which of course we had no appreciation for at the time. Growing up, I began to be aware of something far more important: My parents really believed that Book and honestly tried to live their whole lives in the light that it shed.

      As soon as I learned to read, I was given a leather-bound Bible, inscribed by my parents, which I kept on my bedside table and carried to church. Occasionally I read it by myself, but not very much, so far as I remember, until I went away to boarding school. Homesickness drove me to seek comfort where I knew my parents had found it—in the Bible. My father had given me Deuteronomy 31:8 (KJV) to lean on: The Lord, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed. Strong words for a 14-year-old, words originally spoken by Moses when he turned over to Joshua the staggering burden of leading Israel. It did not occur to me to question my right to claim them. It seemed reasonable to believe that the God who would lead Joshua and had promised not to fail or forsake him would most certainly not fail or forsake a lonely girl. If there was nothing for Joshua to fear in the face of a so much greater task, there was nothing for me to fear either. I confess I was still afraid, sometimes, and have been afraid since those school years. Far more often I have been dismayed, but the lamp has always been there, shining its light if only I would pay attention and walk where it shone, reminding me that there is, after all, no real reason for fear.

      Many students ask me for help and direction for their lives. It is always heartening to know that there are those who are willing to receive the kind they know I want to offer, for I always go back to my source: the path of thy commandments (Ps. 119:35, KJV). And I desperately want them to find what I have found along that path: joy. So often they fear it will be something quite other than joy. But look, I say, if we’re confused, we need somebody to show us the way and tell us what to do—in other words, we need a Master. He has been this way before. Wouldn’t a sensible person pay attention to what He says and conscientiously try to understand, to apply the truth and to obey the instructions? He’s leading us to our Promised Land! There will be fullness of joy there, and there is plenty of joy en route. Believe me. So I offer these suggestions, which have helped me for more than half a century:

      • Read the Bible. Buy one if you haven’t got one, because you need a copy you can mark. Today there are many excellent modern translations, for example, the New English Bible, the New International Version, The Living Bible and J. B. Phillips’s translation of the New Testament. Reading the Bible takes time, but it is worth more than gold. Figure out how much time you spend daily on things that are worth nothing; then decide how much you can give to Bible reading. My father used to point out that no matter how thick a book may be, it can be got through if you spend 15 minutes a day at it.

      • Pray before, during and after your reading. Ask God to help you understand and obey. Let the words of Scripture shape your prayers. (I do not mean to suggest here that prayer books should not also be used. They are full of prayers shaped by Scripture, prayers that have stood the test of time, but it is good to learn to pray while we are reading.)

      • Meditate. Learn to be silent. God has told us to be still and know that He is God. Think of that fact in the context of the passage you have read. Give the Holy Spirit a chance to enlighten you. Our prayer should be, Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth, not Hear, Lord, for Thy servant speaketh.

      • Apply the truth. We need the Lord’s help here especially, to show us

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1