Psalm 32:8-11 Part 3/3

Have you ever been in a place where you couldn’t really talk, and someone, maybe your mom wanted to tell you something but couldn’t. She gives you a certain look and you can almost read her mind. No words have been exchanged, but you know what she wants you to do. This can only happen with someone you know well. The more detailed the thing that they communicate with their face, the closer you must be to them to understand it. In the last few verses of this psalm, David is talking about being led by God, and like our earthly connections, we must be close to God to understand what he desires for us to do.

Psalm 32KJV

A Psalm of David, Maschil.

⁸ I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.

⁹ Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.

¹⁰ Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about.

¹¹ Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.

In verse 8 we have a change of voice. It was David talking about how God has forgiven him, and how God is his hiding place, but now we have a divine voice. God here is talking to David and is instructing him. God wants to instruct us and teach us, notice this, “in the way.” It is while we are already moving in a direction that God had previously revealed to us. It is here that God will bring more instruction and more teaching. If you are wanting to know God’s specific instructions for you, start by being in the way. In other words, start by following what God has already revealed in his Word to you and then God will instruct while you are following him.

This is the method in which God wants to guide us, with his eye. He wants to communicate his instructions to us, not by words or hard speak, but with a look. He wants us to see it in his eye. This means that we have to be looking at God’s eye, looking at his face, and searching for his desire. It would not matter what types of looks your mother gave you in that crowded place if you never looked at her. We must have a desire to see God’s direction for us and be looking intently at his eye.

There are many times, as a father, I see my children desire something. They have a look in their eye that tells me what they want. Even when they can barely speak at all I can tell what they want me to get them. I can tell when a fight is about to erupt between my sweet little girls because of the way they are looking at each other and the toys that are being eyed. God wants us to be paying attention to his desires so that we can use that as our guide.

The contrast of being guided by God’s eye is being constrained by bit or bridle. The verse says not to be like a horse or a mule. This is specifically talking about an untrained animal, because we can eventually train a horse to come near us without such devices. But regardless of being trained or not, the animals do not have the understanding that God desires us to have as he is guiding us. The wild horse is controlled by the bit because to fight to the bit causes pain. Eventually the horse learns that it is better to submit instead of cause itself pain and will obey. God doesn’t want us to be directed by pain, but by a desire to please him.

The entire Psalm is about having our desires changed to please God, and the way in which God chooses to change it. We should be guided by light – the things that God has already reveled and an understanding of him, which gives us an understanding of his desires. We should not have to be guided by might – being forced to obey, repent and get right because of God’s hand being heavy upon us and the pain afflicted on us. We should be maturing as his children to learn to love what God loves and hate what God hates and to walk in that knowledge.

David closes out this psalm as he began it, showing how the man of God, the Righthouse man, is blessed. Yes, the wicked have sorrows – as do the righteous. But the wicked are not experiencing the mercy of God. They have not joy in their troubles. But God brings joy to those who are made right – righteous – and allows us to be glad in the Lord. Even in sorrows we can have true joy because we can see the desires of a loving father being fulfilled in our suffering.

This is how a man can be truly blessed; by seeking god’s desires as a guide to follow. When our heart gets out of step with God’s desires, we come clean before God. Without Guile, without excuses, without trying to cover our own sin, we allow him to cleanse us and hide us. Instead of keeping silence, we run to the hiding place in a time when God can still be found and acknowledge our rebellion and wrong desires before God and there, he will cover us and guide us with his eye a new and a fresh.

S.T. 
Acts 20:24
"None of these things move me..."