Psalm 119:105 (NKJV)
Your word is a lantern to my feet and a light upon my path.

Job 12:5 (NKJV)
A lamp is despised in the thought of one who is at ease; it is made ready for those whose feet slip.

Do you see the connection between these two verses?  The first was written by one who know and loves God, and who trusts in Him for wisdom and guidance.  The second was written by Job, also a man who loves God and trusts Him for guidance, but who is being given wrong counsel by those he calls friends.  The second verse does not deny the first, but rather enlightens it (bringing further “light” to a Scripture about the light provided by Scripture).

Job knows the Word of God is a lantern of great value for illuminating the way ahead of us in our life’s journey.  His point is not about the light, but the keeper of the light.  When a person is in a secure and familiar place, the lamp or lantern is just in the way, something to be stored for later, “despised”.  The only reason it’s kept around in a state of readiness is for use when venturing into unknown territory or situations.

Job is telling his friends that he agrees with them regarding what Scripture says, but that they have no clue about how to apply it – to shine it on his path – because they are not on his path.  They have come to him in a desire to be of help, but they are each personally sitting in a place of ease: among them all, only he is in a place where his feet are slipping.  His faith is strong, but he knows that his position is precarious – even his wife is telling him to curse God and die!

The application is this: sometimes we think we’re at ease, but the enemy has us in a place where our feet are about to slip.  Because we don’t realize it, we don’t employ the light and satan takes us down into the ditch.  Job now knows that at any moment, in the blink of an eye, we can fall from a place of ease into a hard, rocky, and dangerous place where one more slip could spell our spiritual doom.

The lesson is this:  don’t just keep your lantern ready, the wick trimmed and with plenty of oil.  Use the lantern now – even if you think your life is at ease.  Make an intentional choice to employ the lantern every moment of every day.  Walk in the light as Jesus is in the light, and your way will be secure no matter how rocky and dangerous the path might be.

1 John 1:6-7 (NKJV)
If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.  But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin..