As a preacher, I see many interesting things from the pulpit while I’m preaching; some that are distracting even to me. 😋 One thing I have learned from this passage and from preaching: if your eyes are not on the preacher, your mind is doing something else. (Of course, an exception to this would be taking notes of the preaching.) 

In Proverbs 22:6, parents learn that they are to “train up a child in the way he should go.” Here in Psalm 32:8, God states that He will teach all of His children “in the way thou shalt go.” God then reveals how He accomplishes this instruction: “I will guide thee with mine eye.” That means that in order for you and I to follow God, we must be diligently gazing into the eyes of our Heavenly Father. We cannot take our focus off of God or Jesus (Heb. 12:2) for an instant, or we will miss His next set of instructions. 

From Psalm 32:8, one of the lessons parents can learn is the importance of eye contact. If God’s children need to focus on God’s eyes so He can lead us “in the way thou shalt go,” then parents need their children to focus on their parent’s eyes so the parents can train their “child in the way he should go.” When you are talking to your children, you must train them to always make eye contact with you. Whether you are teaching, training, reproving, correcting, or just plain talking with your children, they must learn to make eye contact with you. As you train them to look at your eyes, they will also learn to look into others’ eyes. Eyes are an important part to personal growth and building relationships. 

When your children are infants and toddlers, take your hand and gently move their head to where their eyes can see yours while you are talking to them. If they ever resist, gently remove your hand; with a smile tell them “No. You need to look into Daddy’s/Mommy’s eyes.”; spank them; then gently guide their eyes to yours. Keep doing this until you have their full surrender and eye contact. Eventually, you should get to the point where you can just point to your eyes when your children forget to look at your eyes or their eyes wander. 

Remember to train your children to look at your eyes (and others) when they are being talked to or when they are talking to others. This practice will greatly help you “guide” them with your eyes.