PSALM XXIII. 3 433'
Thirty-second Psalm, and the Psalm itself provides us with the figure of violent contrast. " Be ye not as the horse or the mule." The mule is headlong and headstrong, and he is to be guided by the "strong hand." But the Lord would guide us by His eye. How exceedingly delicate is the guidance of a look ! What tender intercourse can pass through the eyes ! There is a whole language in their silent communion. But let it be marked that this eye-guidance implies very intimate fellowship. Eye-speech is the speech of lovers. We may be guided by a " strong hand " even when we are heedless of God ; we can be guided by His eye only when we are gazing on God.
^ " They looked unto him and were lightened." That is guidance by a look. Whilst they worshipped they received the light. Their minds were illuminated while they gazed. " They caught the ways of God," and they had a certain radiance of spirit which assured them that they had found the King's will. We cannot say much about the delicate experience through the clumsy medium of words. There are some communions for which ordinary language is altogether insufficient. Who can explain the message that passes between souls in love with one another ; and who can describe the gentle communion of souls in love with God ? But there is another instance of this delicate guidance of the eye : " Jesus turned and looked upon Peter." That, too, was a look from Lover to lover. I know that one of the lovers had failed, but his love was not quenched. He had failed at the test, but the love was still burning. And Jesus turned, and with a look of poignant anguish He led His disloyal disciple into tears, and penitence, and reconciliation, and humble communion, and liberty. Peter was guided by the eye of his Lord.^
^ What meaning, what warning, what rebuke, what counsel, what love, the eye can flash forth — so subtly, so fully, so quickly, so certainly, so powerfully ! At the fireside, for example, a mother can speak to her children by glances which the stranger cannot understand, and compared with which speech is slow and uncertain. The Lord looked on Peter, and he went out and wept bitterly.2
^ The clergy of London were at first inclined to regard their new bishop (Dr. Temple) as cold and unsympathetic, not to say brusque and overbearing ; but, with personal knowledge of him, the feeling quite wore away and was exchanged, all over the
* J. H. Jowett. * J. Culross, Ood's She2)herd Care, 77.
JOB-PS. XXX. — 28
434 GOOD GUIDANCE
diocese, for a universal conviction that under the masculine exterior there beat a heart of ahnost womanly tenderness. The clergy of Hackney will not forget how, on one occasion, when speaking of the supreme value of home influence as a preparation for Confirmation, he completely broke down in relating an early experience of his own about a fault, then corrected by his mother, which had never been repeated. " She said nothing : she only looked at me with a look of pained surprise ; and I have never forgotten that look." ^
O Jesu, gone so far apart
Only my heart can follow Thee, That look which pierced St. Peter's heart Turn now on me.
Thou who dost search me thro' and thro' And mark the crooked ways I went,
Look on me. Lord, and make me too Thy penitent.2
(3) There is leading by hindering. *' After they were come to Mysia they assayed to go into Bithynia ; but the spirit suffered them not." And what kind of leading was this ? It was leading by impediment. It was guidance by prohibition. It was the ministry of the closed door. There came to the Apostle what the Friends would describe as a "stop in the mind." His thought was resisted and had no liberty. He felt that his purpose was secretly opposed by an invincible barrier. In certain directions he had no sense of spiritual freedom, and therefore he regarded that way as blocked. " The angel of the Lord stood in the way for an adversary." *
A streamlet started, singing seaward-ho !
But found across the path its fancy planned
A stone which sto{)ped it with the stern command,
"Thus far and never farther shalt thou go."
Then, where the tiny stream was wont to flow, A shining lake appeared with silver strand, Eefreshing flower-strewn fields on either hand —
Reflecting starry skies and sunset glow.
^ Frederick Temiiile, Archbishop of Canterbury, ii. 16.
^ Christina G. Rossetti. * J. H. Jowett, in The Presbyterian, Sept. 1, 1910.
PSALM XXIII. 3 435
So oftentimes we find our progress stayed
By stones that bar the steps we fain had trod, Whereat we murmur with a sense of wrong; Unmindful that by means like this is made
That sea of glass where stand the saints of God To sing the new and never-ending song.^
3. " He guideth me" Mark that word m«. There is not only general guidance for the whole flock, but leading for each in- dividual member of it. Will God really concern Himself about me, so insignificant, so poor and needy ? The experience uttered in this verse answers, Yes. There is nothing that comes out more clearly in Scripture than the individual care granted to all who trust in God, exactly adapted to the various conditions and circumstances of each. The very hairs of the head are numbered.