Almighty Guidance from Thoughts
of God by John McDuff, 1864 How precious are your thoughts unto
me, O God! 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. 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
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, 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 the 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 ship. 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,
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
gardener 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 enfolded 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? But the Lord watches over those
who fear Him, those who rely on His unfailing love.