Psalm 32:8, 9, “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.
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.
“I will instruct thee…”® “He instructs by his providence, and even by
afflictive dispensations of providence; and by his word…”
-Gill
Afflictive
dispensations®Psalm 119:67, “Before I was
afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word.”
Psalm
119:71, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy
statutes.”
Psalm
119:75, “I know, O LORD, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in
faithfulness hast afflicted me.”
Hebrews 12:5-12, “And ye have forgotten the exhortation which
speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of
the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: 6 For whom the Lord loveth he
chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 7 If ye endure
chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the
father chasteneth not? 8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are
partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. 9 Furthermore we have had
fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we
not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? 10 For
they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for
our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. 11 Now no chastening
for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it
yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised
thereby.12 Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees…”
“teach thee in the way which thou shalt go…”® “the path of duty, from whence men
are apt to wander; when the Lord hedges up the way they would go with thorny
providences, and by his ministers, word,
and Spirit, directs them in the right way…”
“I
will guide thee with mine eye…”® “He
teaches us by his word and guides us with his eye, by the secret intimations of
his will in the hints and turns of Providence, which he enables his people to
understand and take direction from, as a master makes a servant know his mind
by a wink of his eye.”-Matthew Henry
“As
servants take their cue from the master’s eye, and a nod or a wink is all that
they require, so should we obey the slightest hints of our Master, not needing
thunderbolts to startle our incorrigible sluggishness, but being controlled by
whispers and love touches.”-C. H. Spurgeon
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“Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle…”
“The
caution is, not to be unruly and ungovernable.”-Matthew Henry
“It is much to be deplored that we so often need to be severely chastened before we will obey. We ought to be as a feather in the wind, wafted readily in the breath of the Holy Spirit, but alas! we lie like motionless logs, and stir not with heaven itself in view. Those cutting bits of affliction show how hard mouthed we are, those bridles of infirmity manifest our headstrong and wilful manners. We should not be treated like mules if there was not so much of the ass about us. If we
will be fractious, we must expect to be kept in with a tight rein. Oh, for grace to obey the Lord willingly, lest like the wilful servant, we are beaten with many stripes.”-C. H. Spurgeon
“Consider the causes why a broken leg is incurable in a horse, and easily curable in a man. The horse is incapable of counsel to submit himself to the farrier; and therefore in case his leg be set he flings, flounces, and flies out, unjointing it again by his misemployed mettle, counting all binding to be shackles and fetters unto him: whereas a man willingly resigns himself to be ordered by the surgeon, preferring rather to be a prisoner for some days, than a cripple all his life.”- Thomas Fuller
“The horse and the mule are turned with difficulty; they must be constrained with bit and bridle. Do not be like them; do not oblige your Maker to have continual recourse to afflictions, trials, and severe dispensations of providence, to keep you in the way, or to recover you after you have gone out of it.”-Adam Clarke
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Proverbs 3:1, “My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments…”
Proverbs 4:20, “My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings.”
Proverbs 8:33, “Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not.”
Proverbs 2:1-5, “My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee;
2 So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; 3 Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; 4 If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; 5 Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.”
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The Horror of
Persistent Disobedience
Proverbs 1:7, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
Proverbs 8:36 But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death.
Proverbs 1:24-30, “Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; 25 But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:
26 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; 27 When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. 28 Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: 29 For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD: 30 They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.”
Proverbs 5:11, 12, “And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed, And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof…”
1 Samuel 15:22, 23, “And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.”
The Four Elements
of True Obedience
1.
Promptly- Gen. 6:22; Isaiah 6:8.
2. Completely.
a. Positive example- David. Acts 13:22.
b.
Negative example- Saul-1 Sam. 15.
3.
Cheerfully- Ps. 40:8.
4. From the heart-Rom. 6:17.
What will cause an individual to obey?
1.
The fear of God- Gen. 39:9; Deut. 5:29; Eccl. 12:13; Col.
3:22.
2.
Love for Jesus Christ - John 14: 15, 21, 23, 24.
3. God’s chastisements- Psalm 199: 67. 71.
Prayers
Psalm 119:36, “Incline my heart unto thy testimonies,
and not to covetousness.”
Psalm 141:4, “Incline not my heart to any evil thing, to practise wicked works with men that work iniquity…”
Psalm 19:13, “Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.”
Psalm 119:5, “O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes!”
Zack M. Guess
816 Berclair
Memphis, Tennessee
January 16, 2003