www.jansbiblenotes.com

GUIDING WITH THE EYE

Horsemanship from Psalm 32:8-9
by Jan Young

"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."
(King James Version)

Many places in Scripture tell us that God instructs and teaches us, but only Psalm 32:8 tells us that God guides us with His eye. The next verse relates this to the horse. I see much in Scripture that relates to horsemanship, especially how God desires us to yield fully and willingly to Him, and how He sets things up in our lives to bring that about, just as we desire that response from our horses and set things up for them. God is the Master Horseman.

In that context, it interests me that God guides us with His eye, 8. How can someone guide you with their eye? And how can thinking about the horse, 9, clarify that?

Most riders guide the horse with various mechanical devices and with various parts of their bodies. How that is done can look different according to the experience level of the horse and of the rider. A good rider on a good horse can guide the horse with invisible aids.

My late husband Jack rode like that. He appeared to doing nothing, as though he and the horse were just one body and one mind. Yet he was always striving to do less. He and his friend Ray Hunt used to talk about how the ultimate in such invisible communication would be to just move their eyes and the horse would follow that movement. How could that be possible?

Effective communication with the horse begins with the attention. The rider's attention must be completely on the horse, as he develops an awareness of everything that is going on. The horse, having a prey animal's instincts, is very aware, but his attention might not be on us. The human needs to be able to constantly get, keep, and use the horse's attention. Jack and I used to speculate that the attention was maybe 95% of everything.

At first we must rely on some type of equipment to communicate and back up our requests. Once the horse is responsive, the communication can be refined so that the horse is responding more to the rider's body, relying less on the mechanics of equipment, so that the use of the equipment is decreased. Jack used to say, don't ride the saddle--ride the whole horse, with your whole body. The body includes the brain, so we also utilize our thoughts, our intent, our eyes--where we look. The horse cannot read minds, but because one's intent and visual focus is subtly transmitted through our body language and energy, the horse can discern our intent.

Every part of the body is connected. Nothing can move completely independently, even if it appears to. So is it possible for a shifting of the eyes to communicate to the horse? Verse 8 seems to confirm that it is indeed possible, since God Himself--the Master Horseman--can guide US that way, if we are in tune with Him, looking and listening attentively for direction. If you have the horse's attention, you can guide him with subtlety; the greater our awareness of God and His Word, the more we give Him our attention, the easier we can pick up His subtle guidance.

Jack taught me to ride from the seat--the seatbones and thighs, the balance of your weight. If you have the horse's attention, you can use less legs and feet, less hands and arms. The horse picks it up easily because he likes it--less annoyance to his mouth and face, less annoyance to his body by pressure, bumping and spurring. You can transition from a stop to any gait with no visible aid, lope with slack reins swinging in rhythm which each stride, and stop in one stride without picking up the slack rein. It feels like magic--like riding a cloud.

However, verse 9 seems to cast shade on the horse, seemingly painting him as dull, insensitive, and uncooperative. On first glance, it seems to be saying: don't be like a horse or mule. Yet Jesus, the Master Horseman, got on the unbroke colt of an ass with just a coat thrown over it, and rode it through a busy city, through a crowd of shouting people throwing things on the ground in front of His mount. Surely that colt's attention was on its rider, not its surroundings.

I would like to think that 9 is not saying: don't be like a horse because it has no understanding. Instead, removing the punctuation, I think it is saying: don't be like the KIND of horse that has no understanding or cooperation without equipment to force it to come to you, to stay with you, to do what you want. Instead, be like the kind of horse that I have just described, like the kind Jesus rode, that is so in tune with its rider that it can be guided with the eye. That is what God desires from us BR>


Copyright 2025 Jan Young

Return to Jan's Bible Notes