Such, then, was the language of the forgiven man to the God who had
forgiven him. What reply did he receive? “I will instruct thee and
teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with Mine
eye.” You will observe that what is here promised is His own divine
guidance and instruction, and you will see at once how appropriate such a
promise was under the peculiar circumstances of the case. David had
grievously fallen. He had been walking, in former times, in God’s way,
but had turned aside in a most awful manner. We do not know what was the
preparatory process in his mind. Perhaps he had forgotten his weakness;
perhaps he had grown self-confident and fell. But we see what God
promised now that he was restored. He undertook in future to keep him
Himself, by His own instruction and His own guidance. The Lord Himself
undertook to guide him, and so keep him safe from the danger of another
fall.
There are two points in this promise. It was _in_ the way, not _about_
the way, that God promised to guide him. When he was walking in the
narrow way God under took to walk with him there, and to hold him fast in
His own right hand till the journey should be complete, and the rest
reached at the end. Let us all learn the lesson that God’s teaching is
only found in the path of God’s commandments. If we choose to walk in
some way of our own choosing, we must not expect the guidance of the
Lord.
Observe also what I may term the delicacy of the promise and the intimacy
of the relationship. God says, “I will guide thee with Mine eye.”
When David was living in a state of impenitence, the strong hand of God
was upon him day and night. But now a look is enough. No force is
needed. The heart is tender, the ear is open, the eye is fixed on the
Lord Jesus, and the least intimation of His will is sufficient. The
passage seems to describe the eye of the Lord watching over His children,
and the eyes of His children fixed on the Lord. When the Lord Jesus
looked on Peter, Peter must have been looking on Him, and one look melted
his heart. And so when the Lord is guiding us, there is no need of
strong or violent discipline, of the wind, the storm, or the earthquake,
for the still small voice is enough. What is needed is that we should be
living looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, seeking
to know His will, drinking in His word, watching the guidance of His
providence, applying the principles of Scripture to common life, and so
not waiting till conviction is forced upon us, but, with a tender heart
and a ready mind, seeking hour by hour to do His will. It is in such an
attitude of mind that we can realize the sacred promise, “I will guide
thee with Mine eye.”
Such, then, was the intercourse of this forgiven man with God. How
close, how intimate, how sacred, how blessed, the communion! And how
complete must have been the forgiveness that prepared the way for it. It
seems almost impossible to believe that this was the same man on whom
God’s hand had been heavy day and night, the same whose bones had waxed
old through his roaring all the day long, now forgiven, now brought into
happy intercourse with God. Does not the passage teach a wonderful
lesson to every soul that has been mercifully forgiven in Christ Jesus?
When we think of the precious blood of Christ, and how the Lord laid on
Him the iniquity of us all, can we suppose for a moment that the
forgiveness bestowed on us is less complete, or the restoration less
perfect, than that of David? Since, then, in his case, the insuperable
barrier of his guilt was so completely broken down that he was admitted
to this sacred and intimate fellowship, why should any one of us remain
at a distance? Why should not we, even we, go before the same Father to
find in Him our hiding-place, and receive from Him the same blessed
assurance, “I will guide thee with Mine eye”? May He accompany us
through life with that loving guidance and watch over every step we take
till, by His great grace, we are safe from danger.