A Devotional Thought from Psalm 32:6-11
Psalm 32:6–11
6 For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found:
Surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him.
7 Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble;
Thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.
8 I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go:
I will guide thee with mine eye.
9 Be ye not as the horse,
Or as the mule, which have no understanding:
Whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle,
Lest they come near unto thee.
10 Many sorrows shall be to the wicked:
But he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about.
11 Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous:
And shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.
Are you eye led?
My children have all grown up but they have some funny stories about their childhood. One of the things they talk about is, “the look”. It is the term they give for one method of my communication. Apparently, when I was displeased with some behavior I would give them, “the look”. According to my daughter, “the look” was terrifying. All three of my children seem to be in agreement that I gave this glare and that it did scare them. Funny thing, I can’t recreate it. I don’t know what “the look” looked like. I’m not sure I knew that I was even doing it, yet it was effective.
Would you forgive a father if he bragged just a moment on his kids? Most of the time, “the look” was all that was needed. They were great, obedient kids and I could not have asked for better behaved ones. More severe forms of discipline were sometimes required but not that often. Most of the time those sweet babies only needed to be eye-led.
It is a wonderful thing to behold when people are close enough to communicate without words. I have seen couples that are so in tune with one another that great amounts of information is silently transmitted with slight shifts of the brow, widening of the eyelids or a dilation of the pupil. A mere look of the eye can give direction, express displeasure or invite affection. A sensitive spouse can hear “stop that”, “do that” or “come here sweet thing” without having heard a word. This is possible because they are close enough to be eye-led.
Ok, so what does this have to do with today’s reading from the Psalms?
Psalm 32:8
I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go:
I will guide thee with mine eye.
The Lord assures the psalmist that he will lead him but that he will do it with his eye. In other words God wants the his servant to be eye-led, to be sensitive to the guiding of the Spirit. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have such intimate closeness with the Lord?
I have known some precious saints that are sensitive to the Spirit’s leading. In times of great personal crisis I have been handed a note that had the exact words of encouragement that I needed at just the right time. The encourager must have been in tune with the Lord in order to know what and when to speak.
I remember a time when an unexpected emergency wiped my families bank account clean. I was too embarrassed to tell a soul but I prayed to my Heavenly Father. A wonderful eye led man of God walked up to me and handed me just enough cash to feed my family and get to work until payday. All he said was that the Lord had told him to do this and walked away. Oh, how I want to be that perceptive of the Father’s direction and be used in similar ways!
Of course, the Lord loves us enough to use other methods to correct and direct us. He warns that we not be like a stubborn horse or mule that that require a bridle in their mouth to guide them.
Psalm 32:9
Be ye not as the horse,
Or as the mule, which have no understanding:
Whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle,
Lest they come near unto thee.
The loving Lord can and will use the method needed to guide us but I for one want to be eye-led, sensitive to his leading and ready to follow his wise direction.