Divine Guidance 1. 3

Our daily walk is to be ordered by God's Word, and in proportion as it is so shall we be kept in His will and preserved from folly and sin. "A good understanding have all they that do his commandments" (Psalm 111:10). A "good understanding" may be defined as spiritual instinct. We all know what is meant by that "instinct" with which the Creator has endowed animals and birds: that inward faculty which prompts them to avoid danger and moves them to seek that which makes for their well being. Now man was, originally, endowed with a similar instinct, though of a far superior order to that possessed by the lower creatures. But at the Fall, he, to a large extent, lost it, and, as one generation of depraved beings has followed another, their "instinct" has become more and more weakened, until now we see the vast majority of our fellows conducting themselves with far less intelligence than do the beasts of the field—rushing madly to destruction, which the instinct of the brutes would avoid: acting foolishly, yes, madly, contrary even to "common sense," conducting their affairs and concerns without discretion.

Now at regeneration God gives to His elect "the spirit . . . of a sound mind" (2 Tim. 1:7), but that "spirit" has to be cultivated, it needs training and directing. The necessary instruction for this is found in the Word. From that Word we may learn what are the things which will prove beneficial to us, and what be injurious; what things are to be sought after, and what avoided. As the precepts of Scripture are reduced to practice by us, and as its prohibitions and warnings are heeded, we are enabled to judge things in their true light, we are delivered from being deceived by false appearances, we are kept from making foolish "mistakes." The closer we walk by the Word, the more fully will this prove to be the case with us: a "good judgment" or spiritual instinct will be formed within us, so that we shall conduct our affairs discreetly and adorn the doctrine we profess. So highly does the saint prize this spiritual instinct or sound mind, that he prays "Teach me good judgment and knowledge: for I have believed Your commandments" (Psalm 119:66). He realizes that it can only be increased as he is Divinely "taught," that is, by the Spirit applying the Word to his heart, opening to him its meaning, bringing it to his remembrance when needed, and enabling him to make a proper use of the same.

But let it be duly noted that in this prayer the petition is backed up with a plea: "for I have believed Your commandments": "believed," not merely by an intellectual assent, but approved with the affections. Only when that be truly the case is such a petition sincere. There is an inseparable connection between the two things: where God's commandments are loved by us, we can count upon Him teaching us "good judgment." As we have said above, the "fool" is not the mentally deficient, but the one who leaves God out of his thoughts and plans, who cares not whether his conduct pleases or displeases Him: the "fool" is a Godless person. Contrariwise, the "wise" (in Scripture) are not the highly intellectual or the brilliantly educated, but those who honestly seek to put God first in their hearts and lives. And God "honors" those who honor Him (1 Sam. 2:30): He gives them "good judgment." True, it is not acquired all in a day: it is "here a little and there a little." Yet the more completely we are surrendered to God, the more the principles of His Word regulate our conduct, the swifter is our growth in spiritual wisdom.

In saying that this "good judgment" is not acquired all at once, we do not mean that a whole lifetime has to be lived before it becomes ours—though, alas, this is often the case with many. No indeed; some who have been converted but two or three years are often more spiritual, godly, and possess more spiritual wisdom than those who have been converted years before them. By treasuring up in his mind the doctrines, precepts, promises, exhortations, and warnings of Scripture, and by diligently comparing himself with the Rule by which he is to walk, the Christian grows into a habitual frame of spiritual wisdom, and acquires a gracious "taste" which enables him to judge of right and wrong with a degree of readiness and certainty as a musical ear judges sounds, so that he is rarely mistaken. He who has the Word ruling in his heart is influenced thereby in all his actions, and because the glory of God is the great aim which he has before him, he is not allowed to go far wrong.

Moreover, God has promised to show Himself strong on the behalf of the one whose heart is perfect toward Him, and this He does by regulating His providences and causing all things to work together for his good. "The light of the body is the eye: if therefore your eye be single, your whole body shall be full of light" (Matt. 6:22). This language is of course figurative, yet its meaning is not difficult to ascertain: what the eye is to the body, the heart is to the soul, for out of the heart are "the issues of life" (Proverbs 4:23). The actions of the body are directed by the light received from the eye: if the eye be "single," that is, sound and clear, perceiving objects as they really are, then the whole body has light for the directing of its members, and the man moves with safety and comfort. In like manner, if the heart be undivided, set on pleasing God in all things, then the soul has clear vision, discerning the true nature of things, forming a sound judgment of their worth, choosing wisely, and directing itself prudently. While the heart is right with God, the soul is endowed with spiritual wisdom so that there is full light for our path.

"But if your eye is evil, your whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you be darkness, how great is that darkness!" (Matt. 6:23). Here is the solemn contrast. If the vision of our bodily eye is defective, a cataract dimming it, then nothing is seen clearly, all is confusion, and the man stumbles as if in the dark, being continually liable to lose his way and run into danger. In like manner, where the heart be not right with God, where sin and self dominate, the whole soul is under the reigning power of darkness—native depravity; and in consequence, the judgment is blinded so that it cannot rightly discern between good and evil, cannot see through the gild of Satan's baits, and so is fatally deceived by them. The very "light" which is in fallen man, namely, his "reason," is controlled by his lusts, so, great is his "darkness."

It is to be noted that the verses we have just been considering were spoken by Christ immediately after what He had been saying in Matthew 6:19-21 concerning the right and wise laying up of treasures. It was as though He now anticipated and answered a question from His disciples: If it be so important and essential for us not to lay up treasures in earth, but to lay up for ourselves treasures in Heaven, then why is it that those men who are commonly regarded as the "shrewdest" and are considered by their fellows to be the most "successful," seek after earthly treasures, rather than after Heavenly? To this Christ replied: marvel not at this—they cannot see what they are doing: they are like blind men gathering pebbles supposing that they are valuable diamonds. Much light does Christ here cast on what we now behold going on on every side. They who have set their hearts upon the things of time and sense, are but spending their energies for that which will stand them in no stead when they come to their deathbed, laboring for that which satisfies not (Isaiah 55:2); and the reason why they conduct themselves so insanely—pursuing so eagerly the pleasures of this world, which will bear nothing but bitter regrets in the world to come—is because their hearts are evil. God has no real place in their thoughts, and in consequence He gives them up to the spirit of madness. There must be the "single eye"—the heart set upon pleasing God—if the soul is to be filled with heavenly wisdom, which loves, seeks, and lays up heavenly things. That wisdom is something which no college or university can impart: it is "from above" (James 3:17).

It is also to be carefully observed that our Lord's teaching upon the "single eye" with the whole body "full of light," and the "evil eye" with the whole body "full of darkness," is immediately followed with, "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon" (Matt. 6:24). This at once establishes the meaning of the preceding verses. Christ had been speaking (under a figure) of setting the Lord supremely before the heart, which necessarily involves the casting out of worldly things and fleshly considerations. Men think to mix God and their lusts, God and mammon, God and worldly pleasures. No, says Christ: God will have all or nothing: he who serves Him must serve Him only and supremely. Ah, my reader, are you willing to pay the necessary price to have Divine light on your path?

It is quite likely that not a few readers are disappointed at our method of treating this subject, that which has been said being very different from what the title led them to expect. Neither in the preceding article nor in this one have we attempted to enter into specific details and state how a person is to act when some difficult or sudden emergency confronts him; rather have we sought to treat of basic principles and thoroughly establish them. Though it might satisfy his curiosity, it would serve no good purpose for a teacher to explain an intricate problem in higher mathematics to a student who had not already mastered the elementary rules of arithmetic. So it would be out of place for us to have explained how particular cases and circumstances are to be dealt with before we have pressed those rules which must guide our general walk.

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