How precious also are Your thoughts unto me, O God!
Psa 32:8 I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.
No more precious assurance can I have, than this - that I
am under the constant, loving guidance of my heavenly Father...
That He
appoints the bounds of my habitation, and overrules all events for my
good - that my whole life is a plan arranged by Him.
Every little apparent
contingency, as well as every momentous turn and crisis-hour, forms part of
that plan - a 'thought of God.'
God examines every path a man takes.
A
man's heart devises his way, but the Lord directs his steps.
I will instruct you and teach you.
How patiently
does this almighty Preceptor train, and with what infinite wisdom and
tenderness does He adapt His varied teachings to the needs and requirements
of His people!
It is "line upon line;" or if need be, cross
upon cross - trial upon trial.
Or it may be that startling providences
are no longer required - the gentle indications of His will are enough - "I will
guide you with My eye."
The earthquake - the hurricane - the wind—the
fire, may now have fulfilled their mission.
The still, small voice is now
sufficient.
And how does He promise to teach and to guide?
Not
in the way that we would like to go - the way of our own
choosing, but "the way which you shall go."
Often we would decide on
pursuing the sunny highway.
But God says, 'the rough mountain-track
is best for you.'
Often we would, like Israel, take the near and smooth road
to Canaan by the land of the Philistines.
But God's pillar-cloud decides
otherwise, and takes us by a circuitous route "by the way of the
wilderness."
Often we would prefer, like the disciples at Tiberias, the
safe path by the seashore, so as to avoid the gathering storm, "for
the wind is contrary."
But God says, "No." He constrains us to get into the
ship.
It is not for us to question His plans.
He led His people
of old - He leads them still - by the right way, that they might go to a
city of habitation.
There is a day coming when, in the words of Augustine,
"both vessel and cargo safe, and not a hair of our heads hurt, we reach the
haven of our desire," we shall own the wisdom of every earthly lesson, the
"needs-be" of every wave in the troubled sea.
The gardener has occasionally to subject his
plants to apparently rough usage - cutting, lopping, mutilating; reducing them
to unsightly shapes before they burst into flower.
Summer, however, before
long, vindicates the wisdom of his treatment, in its clusters of varied
fragrance and beauty.
So also, at times, does our heavenly Husbandman see
fit to use His pruning-knife.
But be assured there is not one superfluous
or redundant lopping.
We shall understand and acknowledge an
infinitely wise necessity for all, when the plant has unfolded itself
into the full flower, bathed in the tints and diffusing the fragrance of
heaven.
Believer, go up and on your way, rejoicing in the
teaching and guidance of unerring Wisdom - "I will guide you with My eye."
The
sleepless eye of Israel's unslumbering Shepherd is upon you by day and by
night - in sickness and in health - in joy and in sorrow - in life and in death.
Does not He who weighs the heart perceive it?
Does not He who guards your
life know it?
Psa 33:18 Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy;
~John Macduff~
