Guided by God's Eye

"I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye. ⁹ Do not be like the horse or like the mule, which have no understanding, which must be harnessed with bit and bridle, else they will not come near you."

Psalm 32:8-9

During Friday night Bible study we discussed Psalm 32, and these were standout verses for me that prompted useful conversation.  God promised to instruct and teach His people in the right way to go and would guide them with His eye.  It was not a situation where all the instruction was given beforehand and then, once the examination is passed, His people could fall back on their qualifications.  Instead, God offered a relationship with His people to be lead by Him in real time to know where to go and what to do, a life available to Christians who are filled with the Holy Spirit.

Our eyes are one of the most expressive, non-verbal means of communication we possess as human beings.  By opening our eyes extra wide for a split second or by winking we can send a message to someone who maintains eye contact with us.  A king seated at his table during a meal attended by servants who knew what to look for would spring into action with a subtle look from their master.  An abrupt lift of the chin accompanied by looking at an empty glass was enough to move a servant to refill it.  While playing sport, without speaking a word, our eyes can communicate effectively to help our teammates anticipate our moves and be in the correct position.

On the other hand, horses and mules cannot communicate in this visual fashion.  While words can be useful training aids, horses naturally communicate through body language and touching.  They respond to the tone of spoken words rather than recognising the meaning of the word itself.  During an equestrian dressage competition, riders are not permitted to speak or use verbal commands and will receive a penalty for doing so.  God told His people not to be like the horse or mule without understanding, that needed to be harnessed with bit and bridle or else they would run away.  No horse or mule will do profitable work without first being extensively trained to respond properly to the bridle and submit to being led.  God's desire is for His people to have understanding of Him and willingly look to Him for guidance--without needing to bridle us with afflictions and troubles to keep our interest.

So how can we maintain eye-contact with God we cannot see with our eyes?  The first part of James 4:8 says, "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you."  We are to draw near to God with eyes of faith, learning of our Saviour in God's Word, desiring and choosing to walk in His ways.  Because we are spiritually regenerated by the Holy Spirit by faith in Jesus, God dwells within us and guides us into all truth.  In one sense He looks through our eyes at the world around us and opens our understanding to perceive needs and opportunities to minister His love and grace we were once blind to.  Instead of fitting us with a bit and bridle of Law, we are governed by His love, righteousness and compassion to follow Christ's example of living out the Gospel by the leading of the Holy Spirit.  Because of the relationship we have by faith in Jesus, we are instructed and led by Him in real time by His grace.

Through God's word and the Word that became flesh, Jesus Christ, we can personally know God.  By the Gospel we are brought to an understanding beyond what Job said in Job 42:5:  "I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You."  God created ants to follow one another and do profitable work for the benefit of all without a guide or ruler by chemical pheromones invisible to our eyes, and God makes Christians new creations He guides, enables and empowers to be fruitful for His glory by the indwelling Holy Spirit.  Let us be those who seek and understand God, guided by His eye.

Commended to the LORD

"So when they had appointed elders in every church, and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed."

Acts 14:23

Paul and Barnabas visited churches they were instrumental in establishing by the preaching of the Gospel, and they appointed or ordained leaders in every church.  Among this group there were those who laboured in the word and doctrine as pastors do to this day, overseers who provided sound teaching from the word of God.  As a newborn baby needs to drink milk regularly, so believers needed to have their faith in Jesus Christ grounded in His word, promises and new covenant.  Christians of a Jewish background were pressured to return to the Law as their measure of righteousness that could never save, and there was no shortage of stumbling blocks facing Gentiles as well.

These elders were appointed in every church with prayer and fasting, an acknowledgement that man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.  As they communed with God concerning the elders raised up by the LORD, their reliance for wisdom and life itself was according to God's wisdom and word.  God spoke the words of life, about this new and living way to approach God through faith in Jesus Christ.  Through His sacrifice on Calvary, Jesus provided access to the presence of God for every Christian:  the torn veil in the Temple that revealed the Most Holy Place alluded to His torn flesh that makes fellowship possible by faith in our Great High Priest Jesus.  Because Jesus lives Hebrews 4:16 exhorts, "Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need."

After prayer and fasting, Paul and Barnabas "commended them to the LORD in whom they had believed."  They commended or entrusted, committed them to the care of their living God who saved them, would protect, help and cause them to be fruitful.  This was a very important step for all involved.  It was faith in God that would prevent Paul and Barnabas from worry, fear and meddling with believers who needed to learn to depend upon God for everything.  Only God could guide, provide, protect and strengthen the Body of Christ the church to be all He created us to be.  The fact they prayed and fasted shows Paul and Barnabas were not passive or careless, but they and the elders withheld food from themselves in reliance upon God going forward.  God made every member of the church members of one another by faith in Jesus, and the health of their relationships were maintained with Jesus at the centre.

Paul and Barnabas avoided the pitfall of potentially stunting spiritual growth by fostering dependence upon them personally by commending fellow believers to the LORD with continued support.  We can entrust our pastor, spouse, friends and children into God's most capable care and hands, knowing He loves them more than we ever could and His plans and purposes are better than ours.  We too can pray and fast, denying ourselves necessary food because we trust the LORD to meet all of our needs.  To throw a child to the wolves would be heartless and brutal, but no genuine child of God is without the protection and help of the Good Shepherd Jesus Christ.  Praise the LORD we can support and intercede on behalf of one another, just one of many ways we can avail much--praying, fasting and entrusting others to God--rather than worrying or meddling.

Smote by God

Believe it or not, reading the Bible is really fun.  Even if you are familiar with a passage and know what is coming, a person can never predict what God is going to say, what you will discover or how other parts of the Bible connect to amplify the meaning.  It is more interesting and useful than the latest installment of that show you are watching or new season of game you are playing.  The Bible is God's words of life, and blessed is the one who reads, studies, meditates and applies them personally by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit.

Today I read Acts 12 in the KJV and the LORD opened my eyes to something I never noticed before.  Woven throughout scripture are many such passages, where a parallel is presented to compare and contrast.  The major feature of Hebrew poetry is the use of parallelism and prompts the reader to consider personal application to what is said.  The two verses that grabbed my attention concern Peter the apostle in prison awaiting death, and Herod who delivered a public address in royal apparel.  As Peter slept in prison chained to guards, the LORD sent an angel to deliver him.  Acts 12:7 says, "And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison: and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands."  He was told to put on his garment and followed the angel through doors that opened on their own accord until he was safely led to freedom.  At John Mark's house he was united with Christians who were praying for him, and spread the word of God's deliverance.

After Herod gave a speech in Caesarea, the people flattered him by shouting:  "It is the voice of a god and not of a man."  Acts 12:23 reads, "And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory: and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost."  Suddenly the angel of the LORD smote Herod with worms that consumed him from within, and it was not long before he died.  Both Peter and Herod were smote by the angel of the LORD, and the contrast is profound.  At night when everyone was sleeping, a light shone in the darkness, Peter was struck by the angel on the side who raised him up; Herod stood in the public eye arrayed in fine apparel that was shone in the sun, and he was struck with worms inside that brought him to the grave and darkness.  Herod's sin was not the adulation of the people, but that he did not give God the glory--something Peter was quick to do.

Herod was forever silenced by God for his sin, and Acts 12:24 tells us:  "But the word of God grew and multiplied."  God has given people the capacity for speech, yet it is God's word that will grow and multiply.  Herod and his words were like chaff blown away by the wind, and the testimony of God's wisdom, deliverance of His people and the words of His life have continued and prevailed.  God's grace and our faith in him will determine the manner of how God strikes us:  to wake us from our slumber, stand us on our feet and provide light in the darkness--or bring judgment upon us as we are cast into darkness.  Praise the LORD in the darkest places the light of Jesus Christ and God's word can shine, and our hearts can be illuminated by the unfailing truth of scripture.  This illustration is sobering and encouraging at the same time, and it is our choice how we respond:  will we obey God and give Him glory in our freedom, or will we rob God of glory and lose the little we have?

Winning by Losing

In the 1971 film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, a boy named Charlie and four other children found golden tickets which promised them a lifetime supply of chocolate.  Shortly after their find they individually were accosted by Albert Slugworth, owner of a rival chocolate business, who offered a great sum of money to the one who gave him an "everlasting gobstopper" so he could discover the secret formula.  During the tour of Wonka's factory, the four remaining children were offered everlasting gobstoppers--on the strict condition they kept the gobstopper to themselves--to which they all enthusiastically agreed.

As the tour progressed the children where whittled down to Charlie alone as they all disobeyed the warnings of Wonka which led to bizarre problems, like falling into a chocolate river, swelling up like a blueberry, tumbling down a chute, or shrinking to the size of an action figure.  Charlie and his grandpa were the only ones that managed to make it to the end, though they too had their share of problems.  They decided to try "fizzy lifting drinks" which violated the contract Charlie signed before the tour began.  The promise of a lifetime supply of chocolate was thus forfeited, and Wonka spared no fury in rebuking them for their transgression.

Grandpa was furious with Wonka, called him a crook and promised he would get back at him somehow.  Charlie, moved by a guilty conscience, returned the everlasting gobstopper.  When the candy was placed next to Wonka, it was like time stopped.  Moved by this good deed to refuse to sell Wonka's secrets for money to Slugworth, Wonka's demeanor changed completely.  The elaborate tour had all been a test Wonka had been hoping Charlie would win.  Though Charlie failed to keep to the contract he signed, he won.  His theft of fizzy lifting drinks was forgiven and he was swept up in a friendly embrace of the chocolate maker who finally found a child with the necessary quality of character to someday take over the company.

Charlie's interaction with Willy Wonka suggests by a good deed people can redeem themselves.  While this makes for a happy finish to the film, it misses the mark entirely concerning being accepted by God.  Like Charlie and his grandpa, we have all broken the Law of God and thus are sinners doomed by a curse that brings eternal death.  We are truly lost without hope.  No amount of good deeds can undo or make up for one sin we have committed.  Yet because of Who Jesus is and all He has accomplished by providing atonement for sinners, the way of forgiveness and salvation has been provided for us as a free gift.  Jesus has overcome sin and death, and by faith in Him we are accepted in the beloved for something far better than a lifetime supply of chocolate:  adoption into the family of God, made co-heirs with Christ and  will enjoy eternal life in God's glorious presence.  The only way we win eternal life is to lose our lives for Christ's sake.

Like Willy Wonka wanted Charlie to win and rejoiced in his success, God desires for all people to live in His presence and enjoy communion with Him forever.  Had Charlie kept the everlasting gobstopper for himself, I have no doubt he would have grown tired of the flavour and even the smell of it over time.  Praise the LORD salvation is a gift we will never tire of as we enjoy fellowship with God for eternity.  Titus 3:4-7 says, "But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, ⁵ not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, ⁶ whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, ⁷ that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life."  Having received such love, grace and acceptance by God, we are assured a glorious future with our Father we can rejoice in presently--and can offer to others through the power of the Gospel.