Don't Walk by the Light of Your Own Fire
I love to go camping. Getting back to nature not only affords me some much needed rest, but it gives me time to think about God. It gives me time to sharpen my focus on the Lord and on His intentions and desires for me. It was during one of these camping trips that I stumbled upon an unexpected lesson in leadership.
One of my favorite things about camping is the campfire! I can create (keep those three words in mind) quite the campfire. I enjoy gathering sticks and pine straw, pine cones and leaves to create an impressive fire. As I was sitting back in complete enjoyment about what I created, I heard a still, quiet voice in my spirit. … "Don't walk by the light of your own fire." Uh, excuse me?
You see, for several months, I had been studying through the book of Isaiah. I recalled reading these words, "But watch out, you who live in your own light and warm yourselves by your own fires (Isaiah 50:11 NLT).
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Read that verse again and give it some thought. What do you think the Lord means by that?
As a leader in ministry, it is absolutely imperative that I do not "create" my own thing to draw a crowd. Never before has our need to rely on God (and not in our intelligence, ideas and creative thoughts and trends) become so essential to meaningful ministry. Having an I can create attitude can be extremely dangerous!
The passage goes on to say that if you do your own thing, "This is the reward you will receive from me: You will soon fall down in great torment" (Isaiah 50:11 NLT). The original Hebrew language defines torment as a place of sorrow, great pain and grief.
So what's a leader to do? The answer is found in verse 10: "If you are walking in darkness, without a ray of light, trust in the LORD and rely on your God."
I love how the King James Version says it: "Let him trust in the name of the LORD [The Existing One] and stay upon his God."
In Hebrew, the word stay means "lean on, support oneself upon." It indicates we are not able to do it on our own and we would be causing great sorrow, pain and grief to do so.
We must guard against walking by the light of our own fire. Let's remove any smoke screens of self sufficiency and flames of personal desire and give ourselves entirely to walking by the light of God's Word, obeying Him and leaning on Him — especially in the dark places of our life where there is no light.
It's only when we walk in humility that we can then lead in humility. But how do we do this? The following biblical truths can help us walk (and thus lead) with humility.
1. Dress the part.
"Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience" (Colossians 3:12).
2. Remove the blinders.
"Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting" (Psalm 139:23-24).
3. Provide service with a smile.
"Work with enthusiasm, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people" (Ephesians 6:7 NLT).
4. Always be grateful.
"Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done" (Philippians 4:6 NLT).
5. Watch your step.
"Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall" (Proverbs 16:18).
6. Brag about God.
"This is what the LORD says: 'Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,' declares the LORD" (Jeremiah 9:23-24).
Missionary Hudson Taylor said: "God's work done in God's way will never lack God's supply." So let's put our reliance on God and His Word. We don't need to walk by the light of our own fire when His light is more than enough. The Lord will show us the path to take when we stay upon Him and humbly walk in His light.
"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path" (Psalm 119:105 ESV).
