Almighty Guidance by John McDuff
I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you shall
go. I will guide you with my eye. Psalm 32.8 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 apparent little
contingency, as well as every momentous turn and crisis hour,
forms part of that plan. 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
very 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, not in 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, 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 Sea of 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 boat. He led them by the right path,
to go to a city where they could live. It is not for us to question
His plans. He led His people of old, He
leads them still by the right path. There is a day coming,
when 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 treatment,
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
gardener see fit to use his pruning-knife. But be assured that 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. 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. The Lord watches over those who
fear Him, those who rely on His unfailing love.