Discipline of Grace.
Deuteronomy 32:10 KJV
He found him in a desert land,
and in the waste howling wilderness;
he led him ABOUT, he instructed him,
he kept him as the apple of his eye.
Study
God’s dealings with His people.
Found
God “found” Israel. Of His own love, God chose to take this people to Himself; He found them, and made them into a nation for His praise.
Found him in a desert land
I apprehend that this expression may relate as well
▪︎ to the position in which the children of Israel were at first found of God, in slavery in Egypt,
▪︎ as to their position during their forty years’ sojourn in the wilderness.
He led him about
This is in allusion to the circumstance that God did not lead the people by a straight path through the wilderness, from the margin of the Red Sea towards the promised land; but in place of this, forty years were occupied in a circuitous route.
He instructed them.
He instructed them by many a type,
▪︎ by many providential dealings,
▪︎ by many statutes and ordinances such as were given to no other nation besides.
He instructed them
▪︎ by mercies,
▪︎ by warnings,
▪︎ by judgments;
▪︎ by many tokens of loving kindness,
▪︎ by many interpositions of power,
▪︎ by many signals manifesting His determination to bless the obedient and to punish the transgressors.
He kept him as the apple of His eye
He shielded them by His power, made it plain to all their enemies that the broad shield of Omnipotence was thrown over them, and that He was determined to protect them from peril, and to put them in possession of the land which He had promised to their fathers that He would give them.
So far the literal meaning of this verse.
Now, let us look at the spiritual meaning, from which we may find a meaning valid for us today
Found
The believer “found” of God.
“We love Him because He first loved us.”
Found him in a desert land
Where does God find him?
“In a desert land,” etc.
There is nothing in creation from which we can obtain the supply of the soul’s spiritual wants.
And even after a person has been found of God the description still holds.
We have no fixed habitation upon earth; and we are in constant danger from enemies.
But, it is a blessed thing to know, that just as God of old found His people Israel in the wilderness and in the desert land, so He finds His people still.
The proof of His finding them is that He leads them.
And here, too, the description given in the text is very accurate, for it is said, “He led him about.”
He led him about
Often manifold trials enter into the dealings of God with His people;
He permits them to encounter sharp afflictions, unexpected trials, it may be heartrending bereavements;
He takes from them the earthly prop upon which they were wont to lean too fondly.
But of this be assured: however God may lead His people about, He leads them by the right way.
He instructed them.
All the while God is leading His people about, He is instructing them.
Have you not experienced this?
A Christian has to grow in knowledge as well as in grace.
As God continues His providential dealings towards us, we come to take a wider survey of the love and faithfulness and goodness of God in all His dealings with us.
God instructs us
▪︎ in our own weakness and His all-sufficiency,
▪︎ in our corruption and His grace,
▪︎ in our own frailty and His constancy,
▪︎ in our unbelief, and His unwavering faithfulness to His Word.
Thus the believer is instructed; and he comes to take a bolder step, and to feel his stand more secure, as being anchored upon the Rock of Ages, and putting his trust in the sure Word of God.
He kept him as the apple of His eye
What a beautiful metaphor this is!
Of all the bodily organs that God has given to us, the eye is the most exquisitely tender and sensitive.
You know how the tiniest particle of dust will irritate and distress the delicate fibres of this tender and sensitive organ; yet of all the organs of our body it is the most exquisitely provided for.
The very guards that God has placed about it are so sensitive and so quick to the perception of danger, that the very eye itself may be defended.
Now, this is the figure that God makes use of in order to present His watchful guardianship over His saints.
“He kept him as the apple of His eye,”
▪︎ watched him with unceasing vigilance,
▪︎ placed around him unnumbered guards,
▪︎ defended him with the utmost possible precaution for his real welfare,
▪︎ and thus shielded and protected him from approaching danger.
God guards and defends His people.
It is said they are “kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.”
And is there a man who walks this earth so happy, so truly blessed, as the man who is thus under the guardianship of God?
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