Guiding Eye

“I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.” (Ps 32:8 AV)

This is a promise from God to the writer of the psalm.  Not the writer of the psalm to someone else.  This promise is from a God who loves us and desires for us to grow into the image of His Son.  He promises to instruct, teach, and guide.  These are not the same.  To instruct here means to take notice of or to be prudent.  To teach means to train in a skill.  To guide is to offer counsel.  In other words, the LORD will show us the ‘why’, the ‘how’, and the ‘when’, ‘where’, and ‘what’.  God promises to do this our entire lives.  He promises to bring us along our path of holiness, faith, and service until that last breath leaves our chest.  What struck me is the last three words of this verse.  It is with the eye that God guides.  This could have several meanings.  The eye of God could guide me as in when I used to look at my little sons from the pulpit when they were not behaving.  They would act out and I would glance at them.   But I also think He guides with the eye in taking particular notice of where we are and what we need.  He notices.  He sees me as though I am the sole soul garnering His attention.  He sees exactly where I am headed and guides me in the way I need to go.  There is great comfort in this.

I used to play baseball.  I wasn’t very good at it.  The coach put me in left field.  When I wasn’t pitching third string, I was fielding a ball about twice a game.  During those few seasons, I didn’t have the privilege of having a parent in the stands.  There was no one there for me.  My father worked a lot and my mother had ten other children to tend to.  When my brother and I played, it was just he and I.  When I became a father, I involved myself in my son’s baseball career.  I was at every game.  I coached the pitching staff.  I served as a first base coach and hitting coach.  When it came to high school, there were more able men to help my son.  Men who knew much more than I did.  I was relegated to the stands.  There were certain phrases we had developed through the years.  ‘Snowbank’ meant to bend your back and through the pitch.  “Nose” meant to align the release point of the pitch.  All I had to do was yell one of these catchphrases and he would adjust his mechanics.  He could not see where he was failing so an outside set of eyes was needed.  I guided him with my eyes because he couldn’t see it himself.

This is a great comfort to the soul who desires to please the LORD.  We have blinders on.  We seldom can see a correction that is needed without the assistance of others.  In particular, the LORD.  His eyes are not limited to correction.  His eye guides our decisions and not just our actions.  He sees where we are headed and sometimes, adjusts the circumstances of life so that we do not get to where we are presently going.   This happened to me as a young man.  My life would have turned out very differently if God had not intervened.  Some of those interventions hurt.  It wasn’t easy.  But it was necessary.  If I were to thank God for one thing, outside of salvation itself, this would be at the top of my list.  I am so thrilled that He has watched over me and kept me from making some very serious mistakes.  I am so grateful that His eye guides.