THE GUIDING EYE

PSALMS 32:8

A. "I WILL INSTRUCT THEE AND TEACH THEE IN THE WAY WHICH THOU SHALT GO; I WILL COUNSEL THEE WITH MINE EYE UPON THEE."
  1. This is a most informative Psalm:
    1. It shows that none of us is wise enough to walk uprightly - to do what is right before God
    2. "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way" - Is. 53"6
    3. "They are all gone out of the way" - Rom. 3:12
  2. A compassionate Father:
    1. Takes a very special interest in His erring children
    2. And promises to instruct, teach, and guide us with His eye B. OUR NEED FOR GUIDANCE
  3. Our need for divine guidance is apparent:
    1. Because God's ways are not our ways - they are so much higher than our ways - they are so much higher than our ways; as the heaven is higher than the earth - Is. 55:9
    2. "There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." - Prov. 16:25
    3. We are not familiar with the way to the kingdom and we need a guide; God says that He will guide us
  4. God's method of guiding us:
    1. He guides us by imparting to us understanding; that knowledge comes from the study of the Bible - 2 Tim. 3:15-17
    2. Note the Trinity of divine guidance - (1) I will instruct thee, give thee wisdom; examples: Paul was on the wrong road when he persecuted the Christians and God gave him light - Acts 9:1-14; Cornelius was uninformed about the way of truth, God sent Peter to instruct him - Acts 10:9-29; the Eunuch was in need for someone to explain Isaiah 53 to him; God sent Philip to do it - Acts 8:27-40; (2) I will point out the way unto you, Jesus says, I am the way - John 14:6; (3) I will fix Mine eye upon thee - that means that God will guide us by personally watching over us, shielding us. To guide with His own eye simply means that the Lord gives us His personal attention
    3. 2 Chron. 16:9 C. GOD'S PECULIAR METHOD OF GUIDING US
  5. God guides His own, not by force, but by love:
    1. The eye is the indicator of the desire; the lips command; the hand compels
    2. The lip can plead, but there is an inner plea which the eye alone urges; someone has said, wisely, that they who know the language of the eye can read the soul
    3. God guides us, not by showing us at the outset the whole road that lies before us; but He leads us step by step
    4. Jesus, knowing human limitations, says, "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now." - John 16:12
    5. "But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day." - Prov. 4:18
    6. "Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness." - Ps. 112:4
  6. God's agents of divine guidance:
    1. "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path."
    2. "The entrance of Thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple." Ps. 119:130
    3. "O send out Thy light and Thy truth; let them lead; let them bring me unto Thy Holy Hill, and to Thy tabernacles." - Ps. 43:3
    4. "We have also a more sure word of prophecy, and ye do well to take heed unto it as unto a light shining in a dark place until the day dawn and the day star arise in your heart." - 2 Pet. 1:19-20
  7. He guides us by His Holy Spirit:
    1. "howbeit when He, the Spirit of truths, is come, He will guide you into all truth" - John 16:13
    2. "Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord" - Zech. 4:6
    3. "Where is He that put His Holy Spirit within him? that led them through the deep, as an horse in the wilderness, that they should not stumble? As a beast goeth down into the valley, the Spirit of the Lord caused him to rest; so didst thou lead Thy people, to make Thyself a glorious name." - Is. 63:11-14
  8. He guides them by the church of the living God:
    1. The gospel commission - Matt. 28:18-20


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