We have been studying Psalm 32 for several weeks now.  We have entitled this Psalm “Instructions On The Plight Of The Sinners”.  We have looked at the ‘Confidence’, ‘Conviction’, and ‘Conversion’ of the sinner.  Let us look this week at verses 8-11 which says, “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. Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the LORD, mercy shall compass him about. Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.”

I have entitled this section ‘The Confession Of The Sinner’.  In verse 8a we find ‘A Confession By The Instructor’.  God claims to be the one who instructs His people.  The word ‘instruct’ here is a much bigger word than one who stands to give facts and information.  The word literally means, ‘I will make thee to understand all things’.  Man can instruct but only God can cause us to understand.  Education without God only develops depraved creatures with a head full of facts and information.  Oh, how this should cause us to flee from any learning place where God is not the center.

The Lord says our instructor will “…teach thee in way which thou shalt go;” The text literally says, He will teach us what is the way to go.  Without the Lord we wander aimlessly through this dark world.  Our Lord, if waited upon, always leads in a plain path.  There will be no need to say ‘oops’ I went down a dead end path when our God is the instructor.  In verses 8b-9 we find ‘A Confession About The Instruments’.  We are given in these verses two instruments used for guiding the people of God.  One is the ‘eye’ of the Lord and the other is the ‘bit’ in the mouth used to guide a horse or mule.  It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know which one of these instruments would be more pleasurable.  I desire to be led with His eye.  My Dad directed us with his eye.  One of his granddaughters used to say, “Papa Eddie, I’m going to give you the evil eye”.  That eye of disappointment touches us in the very depths of our soul.  The eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good.  The horse and mule are high strung and stubborn animals.  They must be led by applying the pressure of pain from a bit in the mouth.  Lord, let us obey the slightest hint of our Master and be controlled by His whisper and touch of love.  It is a great shame that most of us must be severally chastened before we will obey.  “Oh for grace to obey the Lord willingly, lest like the willful servant, we are beaten with many stripes.  We ought to be as a feather in the wind, wafted readily in the breathe of the Holy Ghost, but alas! We live like motionless logs and stir not with heaven itself in view.” (Spurgeon)

In verse 10 we find ‘A Confession From The Enclosure”.  David reminds us of the many sorrows that accompany our sins.  Let us be numbered with those who trust in the Lord.  The word ‘trusteth’ means to be confident, sure, and to hide for refuge.  The ones who trust in the Lord are ‘compassed’ about with mercy.  Mercy is God withholding from us what we deserve.  Mercy will surround us.  Mercy will be above us as high as the heaven above the earth, On our left and right we will find that our sins have been thrown as far as the east from the west, and under us will be the eternal riches of mercies which will take all of the ages to show us.

In verse 11 there is ‘A Confession To The Indweller’.  We are told to have a heart that is ‘glad’, that ‘rejoiceth’, and ‘shouts for joy’.  The word ‘gladness’ means to be gleeful with the chin up.  The word ‘rejoice’ means an age of time when one should be exceedingly glad.  The word ‘shout’ means to emit a loud sound of joyous triumph.  Why does David make this confession?  One reason is he is ‘in the Lord’.  This is the ultimate end in the plight of the sinner, to know that I am ‘in the Lord’.  He has become all that I am that I might become all that He is.   I am no longer a sinner but a saint and a child of God.